Posted: November 9, 2007

Athletics: Ingalls Is Race Director Of The Year

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com The fastest woman ever over the half-marathon distance has decided to run twice as far at next January's Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, organizers announced yesterday. Lornah Kiplagat, the reigning IAAF world cross country and road running champion, has been lured to the desert by the chance to win a $1,000,000 bonus for the world record and also a $250,000 first prize, the largest in marathon running. "When we announced the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon was being taken to the next level thanks to the support of Dubai Holding, our aim was to attract the very cream of long distance running," said event director Peter Connerton through a media release. Kiplagat, 33, was born in Kenya but became a Dutch citizen in 2003. At last October's IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy, she scorched a pending world record for the half-marathon of 1:06:25, passing through 20-K in 1:02:57, also a pending world record. "Everything just went perfect today," Kiplagat said at the time. "With four kilometers left, I realized that the record was possible." While clearly road running's diva from the 10-K to the half-marathon, over the marathon distance Kiplagat has been less successful. She set her personal best time of 2:22:22 in Osaka in 2003, her only sub-2:23 clocking. Her most important victory was at Osaka in in 2002, and she has also won in Los Angeles twice in 1997 and 1998, Amsterdam in 1999 and Rotterdam in 2005. She has yet to record a victory at one of the World Marathon Majors events; she was most recently fifth at the Flora London Marathon in 2:24:46 after leading much of the race. On the track Kiplagat is the Dutch record holder at 10,000m in 30:12.53. She had intended to contest this event at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka last August, but was unable to compete due to a calf strain. The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is scheduled for Friday, January 18, 2008. Men's marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie is also scheduled to take part. PHOTO: Lornah Kiplagat on her way to her fourth title at the NYRR New York Mini 10-K last June (Photo by Vicah Sailer; used with permission) Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest