MAJORS Magazine Issue 4 by wmmajors

A N I N S I D E L O O K AT T H E A B B O T T W O R L D M A R AT H O N M A J O R S OCT - DEC 2023 | ISSUE 4

INSIDE SERIES XV REVIEW 2023 SIX STA R STATS AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPS REVIEW

TO KYO · B O STO N · L O N D O N · B E R L I N · C H I C AG O · N E W YO R K

07 Evans Chebet

MAJORS

WE CREATE, BUILD AND SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL TO DISCOVER THE POWER OF THE MARATHON

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Evans Chebet 08

JOIN THE COMMUNITY TODAY TO ACCESS YOUR FREE RUNNER PORTAL WHERE YOU CAN CLAIM YOUR STARS You can also take part in a host of virtual challenges in the AbbottWMM Global Run Club.

PLUS Could you be an Age Group World Champion? The best age group athletes aged 40 and over can compete for invites to the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in over 350 events worldwide.

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It has been a fantastic year for the Abbott World Marathon Majors. DAWNA STONE

Chief Executive Officer Abbott World Marathon Majors

We have seen history-making performances from our elite athletes, with first-time champions crowned in three of our four elite series competitions and three of them breaking world records. We also saw some incredible performances in the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in Chicago, where world records and national records were also broken as runners up and down the age range put on performances that inspired me to see what’s possible with dedication and commitment to pursuing your goals.

MAJORS

On the subject of goals, we also had a historic year for our Six Star Finisher family. More than 4,500 of you completed your journey, with over 3,000 on that record-setting day in Tokyo. In my first full year as CEO, the passion of this incredible community of runners has underlined exactly why this is such a wonderful movement to be a part of, and I cannot wait to see what 2024 has in store for us. Thank you for making what we do here matter. I hope you enjoy the last instalment of MAJORS magazine for 2023 as we take a look back at an amazing 12 months.

ISSUE 4 OCT - DEC 2023

The AbbottWMM Team

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Dawna Stone CEO

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Danny Coyle Chief Content Officer

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Scott Cassin Head of Global Partnerships

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Matt Dungate Head of Creative Stewart Haynes Head of Results & Rankings

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Dave Macnamara Social Media Manager

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Lisa Thompson Operations Lead

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Neil Jamieson

A N I N S I D E L O O K AT T H E A B B O T T W O R L D M A R AT H O N M A J O R S OCT - DEC 2023 | ISSUE 4

marathontalk@wmmajors.com INSIDE SERIES XV REVIEW 2023 SIX STA R STATS AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPS REVIEW

TO KYO · B O STO N · L O N D O N · B E R L I N · C H I C AG O · N E W YO R K

MAJORS

CONTENTS THE IMAGE

THE WARMUP NEWS ROUND UP

HISTORY RE-WRITTEN

STARS ASCENDING

SIX STAR STATS

SYDNEY STEPS FORWARD

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AGE GROUPERS WORLD CHAMPS REVIEW

QUALIFIERS IN FOCUS

ABBOTT SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTH

GLOBAL RUN CLUB

MAJOR MOMENT

Travel Light. Stay Motivated. As a partner of the Abbott World Marathon Majors and a leader in wellness travel, Westin® knows how important it is to keep up your workout and recovery routines while away from home. Westin hotels offer on-demand, state-of-the-art fitness gear, delivered straight to your guestroom. Try one of our WestinWORKOUT® Gear Lending Kits on your next stay: • Sculpt & Flow Kit by Bala • Recover & Recharge Kit by Hyperice Learn more at westin.com/gearlending.

07 Evans Chebet

MAJORS

The Image Kelvin Kiptum looks anything but exhausted after smashing the world record at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in October. The Kenyan became the first man to break 2:01:00 when he clocked 2:00:35 (Kevin Morris for Bank of America Chicago Marathon)

MAJORS

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Related Events You Can Enter

Event Date 7 a.m. on February 17 (Sat) until 5 p.m. on March 17 (Sun), 2024 (JST) Entry Period 12 p.m. on December 8 (Fri), 2023 until 5 p.m. on January 31 (Wed), 2024 (JST)

ISSUE 4

THE WARMUP IN THIS SECTION

ELITE SERIES REVIEW

SIX STAR STATS

AGE GROUPER FOCUS

RECORD NUMBERS REACH FOR THE STARS The Abbott World Marathon Majors family experienced a historic year for Six Star Finishers in 2023. Tokyo raised the bar with a world record-setting number in excess of 3,000 runners receiving their Six Star Medal, while Boston also saw a race record total of Six Star Finishers joining the Hall of Fame on Patriots’ Day. For a full breakdown of the stats for 2023, see our feature on page 22.

12 The Warmup

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WILL TOKYO BE NO.6? Congratulations to all those who secured a place in Tokyo through the AbbottWMM ballot. If you are running on March 3 and it is going to be your sixth and final star, please make sure you have completed your Set for No. 6 form in your Runner Portal. We will then make sure we have a Six Star Medal waiting for you at the finish! It is looking like being another bumper year in Tokyo with over 1,800 runners already notifying us that this will be their final race!

BOSTON LEGEND TAKES BOARD CHAIR ROLE It was announced in November that Dr. Cheri Blauwet has taken up the position of Board Chair for the Boston Athletic Association. Dr Blauwet won the Boston Marathon women’s wheelchair division race in 2004 and 2005 and also won the New York City Marathon in 2002. “The B.A.A. is an organization that I have been part of for many years and one that is continuing to make progress in our mission to serve the community, particularly in our work to enhance opportunities for Para and Adaptive athlete,” said Dr Blauwet. “I am approaching this role with enthusiasm, ready to work along with my Board colleagues to support our organizational mission of promoting healthy lifestyles through sport.”

EYE OF THE TIGER STANDS TEST OF TIME What will you be listening to as you train for the 2024 TCS London Marathon? After the 2023 edition of the race, Strava, in partnership with Spotify, released the top ten songs on London Marathon playlists, and the most popular track turned out to be a tune nearly as old as the race itself. The chart was topped by Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger, which was released in 1982, just a year after the first London Marathon took place.

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BERLIN HONORED BY WORLD ATHLETICS As the BMW BERLINMARATHON gears up for its 50th race in 2024, the race and the city have been recognised together by World Athletics with the award of a Heritage Plaque. The award honors the athletic history of the city, which can go as far back as the 1800s for its first organized running events. Horst Milde, founder of the BERLIN-MARATHON, said: “The awarding of the Heritage Plaque by World Athletics to the BERLIN-MARATHON, which has now been running for almost 50 years, is a great and significant honor for the organizing team, the SCC Berlin club, the many volunteers and for me. It is both high praise and an incentive for the future.”

CHICAGO SETS SIGHTS ON 50K More than 120,000 runners applied for a place in the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Applicants were notified of their selection status in early December, with organizers hoping to reach a recordbreaking 50,000 finishers next October. Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski said: “The energy and excitement of (the 2023) race day captured the attention of runners from around the world and we’re humbled by the extraordinary interest we’ve seen as a result.”

WRINKLE WADDLES TO STARDOM AGAIN After bringing the curtain down on a memorable 2023 for the Abbott World Marathon Majors, there was much talk of the celebrity roster of runners who took to the streets for the TCS New York City

Marathon, including YouTube megastar Casey Neistat who ran a 3:01:27 PR. But the show was stolen again by Wrinkle the Duck who, took part in at least some of the course, and was even rewarded with a medal at the finish.

14 SERIES XV CHAMPIONS

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HISTORY R E W R I T T E N RE-WRITTEN H I S T O R Y

Records fell, stars were born and legends ruled again in Series XV of the Abbott World Marathon Majors

WORDS: Danny Coyle ILLUSTRATIONS: Neil Jamieson

he prospect of sporting drama can often be oversold only to underdeliver. Those of us who traipse into arenas around the world week after week, or commandeer prime position in front of the TV on a weekend afternoon, do so in the hope that entertainment will unfold to keep us on the edge of our seats. It’s not always so. The drabness of the contest we are sometimes served up can leave us wondering what else we could have done with those last couple of hours. The 2023 season of the Abbott World Marathon Majors does not fall into that category. It does not even come close. In 2023, we have seen three world records, countless course records, elbow-to-elbow sprint finishes, new faces storm the scene and old stagers rage against the dying of the light in

a cocktail of marathon running mixed by the sporting Gods. It all began on the streets of Tokyo in March. The Japanese capital welcomed the world back to its flagship race for the first time since 2019. The wait had been a long one to enjoy the sights of crowded streets and a full field lining up behind the elite cast assembled by Tad Hayano in his final event as race director. The athletes he brought to the party certainly kept their end of the deal. Rosemary Wanjiru rocketed to sixth on the women’s marathon all-time list with 2:16:28, defeating Tsehay Gemechi, who also broke 2:17 to become just the eighth woman to breach that mark in history. Wanjiru’s margin of victory was 28 seconds, roughly 28 seconds more than Deso Gelmisa’s winning gap. The Ethiopian battled side by side in the shadow of Tokyo

Station with countryman Mohamed Esa before finally nudging in front as the tape approached. Further back, there was joy for Canadian Cam Levins, who lead for so much of the race only to finish fifth, but in doing so he broke the great Khalid Khannouchi’s North American record that had stood for 20 years, finishing in 2:05:36. The wheelchair races were plundered by Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär. Hug’s win was a portent of a historic year in the making, while for Schär, her third win in Tokyo set her up to battle a strong field of women in the coming months. The elite action played out against a backdrop of another historic subplot to a glorious day in Tokyo, as more than 3,000 runners claimed their Six Star Medal, setting a new Guinness World Record in the process. The series was off to a flying start.

16 SERIES XV CHAMPIONS

“I TRIED TO NOT HAVE IT IN MY MIND THAT IT COULD BE SIX WINS. NOW I REALIZE WHAT HAPPENED” MARCEL HUG

Daniel Do Nascimento rage into a lead in a suffocating soup of unseasonable heat, only to pass the stricken Brazilian in the late miles as he lay on the road with no more in the tank. Chebet was in the mood to play the waiting game again, and when he struck, Kipchoge had no reply in the lower Newton Falls. Chebet strode to glory while Kipchoge labored home in sixth, the dream of a unique six-star achievement washed away in the puddles scattered down the home straight. If Chebet was surgically patient with his tactics, Hellen Obiri was practically saintly. The 33-year-old, newly ensconced in her American training base with coach Dathan Ritzenhein,

had faded after a promising performance in New York five months earlier, unable to maintain the pace she set when the undulations of Central Park arrived. This time, after she was announced as a late entry to the race, she doused her ambitions to escape for as long as she could. Obiri held her nerve until the final two miles in Boston before out-muscling Amane Beriso to take the acclaim of the crowds with a. 12-second advantage. Kenya celebrated a double, if not the one anyone expected. A fervent crowd also got to see its home flag raised on a day packed with remembrance. Susannah Scaroni, the defending AbbottWMM series

CREDIT:BAA

BOSTON The annual renewal of the world’s oldest continuously held marathon is enough in itself to capture the gaze of the running world on Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts. But throw the greatest man to ever run the distance into the mix, and the attention levels take a quantum leap. Eliud Kipchoge’s arrival in Beantown was heralded as the fifth chapter in a six-part odyssey to become the first able-bodied athlete to win all six Abbott World Marathon Majors. Coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of the 2013 Boston bombings, emotion and expectation were ratcheted to new levels as Kipchoge spearheaded a field packed with experience and – crucially – Boston knowhow. Chief among those with prior knowledge of the fastest way to get from Hopkinton to Boylston Street was Evans Chebet, the 2022 champion. Chebet is a study in patience, as he had proved in Boston a year earlier, and again in New York City in 2022 when he let

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champion, knew that if she was going to beat last year’s Boston winner Manuela Schär, she had to hang on for dear life on the downhills and deploy her superior climbing when it mattered most. She did both, and then some. She was free and clear by halfway, even with time to stop, produce a wrench, and tighten a troublesome left wheel nut, and continue on her way to claim the olive wreath. As for the men’s wheelchair race: Marcel Hug could not be touched. Man and machine were working in perfect harmony, and another course record was collected by the Silver Bullet, finishing in 1:17:06.

LONDON The vast majority of London’s record-size field on April 22 would have been experiencing some scale of doubt, nerves and outright panic as race day approached. It’s a natural and expected state for most of us who have lived through a marathon race week. But to hear that the same cascade of emotions were tumbling through the mind of one of the finest runners of the modern era was both surprising and settling all at once. Sifan Hassan’s track career speaks for itself, but as she stepped up to the challenge of 26.2 miles, it was as though all those records and medals mattered for nought. “I’ve already been nervous for a month,” she admitted before the race. “To be honest, I am scared of the marathon. I don’t know whether I will finish or not, but I’m also very curious. “Sometimes I wake up and think ‘Why the hell did I decide

MAJORS

“TO BE HONEST, I AM SCARED OF THE MARATHON. I DON’T KNOW WHETHER I WILL FINISH OR NOT, BUT I’M ALSO VERY CURIOUS. SOMETIMES I WAKE UP AND THINK ‘WHY THE HELL DID I DECIDE TO RUN A MARATHON?’” SIFAN HASSAN to run a marathon?’” And all that apprehension seemed well-placed when the race began. The Dutch athlete fell off the pace of the front group after six miles and was seen stopping to stretch a stiff hip, which prompted luminaries such as Steve Cram and Paula Radcliffe, commentating for the host broadcaster, to suggest she might want to call it a day. Hassan had other ideas. A gap to the lead pack was whittled away in the last nine miles, and – despite a near collision with a race motorbike as she veered across the road for a drinks station – she was suddenly back on their shoulders which, considering her track speed, must have felt like a body blow to their chances. Speed kills. Hassan inevitably roared away from the pack as she flew past Buckingham Palace, and claimed one of the most dramatic marathon debut wins in history. “I can’t believe I’ve finished, let alone won,” she said afterwards. “I can’t believe I’ve finished a

marathon. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I’m so stupid to play this kind of game. What was I thinking, running a marathon? I never cry, but this morning I was crying!” There was drama of a different sort in the men’s race, as the crowds screamed for Kelvin Kiptum to propel himself to a new world record. The 23-year-old was running his second marathon after clocking 2:01:53 on debut in Valencia, and proved he was no one-race wonder as he edged closer and closer to threatening Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09. After some astonishing splits of 61:40 for the first half and 59:45 for the second, Kiptum just fell off Kipchoge’s mark, finishing in 2:01:25 to snatch the course record Kipchoge set in 2019, and put the world on notice that he was leading the chase to catch the great man. Marcel Hug was even more dominant in the London wheelchair race, while we witnessed a thrilling sprint finish in the women’s wheelchair

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contest. Madison De Rozario burst from the pack of four on The Mall to become the third different Major winner in as many events in a series that was shaping up to be a classic.

BERLIN Back on familiar territory, Eliud Kipchoge was back on a familiar step of the podium as he stormed to victory for the fifth time in Berlin. He could not lower his own world record on this occasion, finishing in 2:02:42. Despite another thoroughly impressive performance from Kipchoge, it would be a mere footnote by the day’s end. Tigist Assefa was back in the German capital to defend her title, but no one predicted what she was about to do. The age of the super shoe has long been a subject of heated discussion, with further fuel added to the debate when Assefa, sporting the latest iteration of footwear from her sponsor, took a match to the record books in Berlin. The 26-year-old Ethiopian set a barely-believable new world record of 2:11:53, slicing two minutes and 11 seconds off the time set by Brigid Kosgei in Chicago in 2019. She held one of her shoes aloft after crossing the line in a nod to the advances we have seen in recent years across the leading manufacturers. Assefa’s ascent from a 2:36 in Saudi Arabia in March 2022 to 2:11 18 months later was a story that had onlookers struggling to comprehend what they’d seen. Hers was not the only world record to fall in Berlin. In the women’s wheelchair race, the first four across the

Foot loose and lightning fast: Tigist Assefa heralds the shoe she wore to set a new world record at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON

line all finished under the existing world record. Catherine Debrunner was at the head of that group, repeating her win of 12 months prior and inserting herself into the conversation for the series title with a time of 1:34:16 Her compatriot Hug won in 1:23:07, coming home over six minutes in front of the second placed Daniel Romanchuk.

CHICAGO Two weeks after seeing Eliud Kipchoge fail to improve upon his own world record, Kelvin Kiptum pitched up in the Windy City with his sights firmly fixed on finally beating his fellow Kenyan’s best. He did just that, scorching home in 2:00:35. In doing so, Kiptum became the owner of three of the six fastest times in history, and brought into view

the prospect of a sub-two-hour marathon under certified race conditions. If his winning time was astonishing in itself, some of the embedded statistics that comprised his performance were equally as incredible. His half marathon splits were 60:48 for the first 13.1 miles and 59:47 for the second, with a 4:18 mile recorded in his 22nd mile, the fastest ever seen in a marathon. Sifan Hassan was also in town and blazed her way to the second fastest women’s time ever, 2:13:36. Six weeks earlier she had claimed medals on the track at the World Athletics Championships, underlining her incredible range as well as what appears to be a turn of pace over 26.2 miles that promises great things as we look to 2024 and beyond. Dare she focus on the marathon at next year’s Olympics? While Marcel Hug blasted his way to a fifth win in five races, Susannah Scaroni and Catherine Debrunner escaped from the pack in the women’s wheelchair race and engaged in a personal duel all the way to the final straight. It was Debrunner who emerged victorious, demonstrating that she can put her record-setting track speed to good use in a dash for the tape on the roads. The Swiss was now a genuine contender for the series title as all eyes turned to the finale in the Big Apple.

NEW YORK CITY With Kiptum having a firm grip on the men’s series title, race day glory was the prime motivation for the men’s field spearheaded by Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola. The

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32-year-old had become world champion in 2022 but had never occupied the top of the podium at one if the Majors. He set about rectifying that in style in New York, breaking his rivals at the 20-mile mark and powering to a new course record of 2:04:56, bettering the time set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011 and climbing into the prize money places in the final Series XV standings. The women’s race was stacked with a raft of potential winners and the smart money was on Margaret Okayo’s 22-year-old course record finally tumbling. Among the field was Boston champion Hellen Obiri, the only woman who could equal Sifan Hassan’s two wins in the series to force a race director vote for the 2023 champion. A pedestrian pace meant that Okayo’s record would be safe for another year, and it also meant a gaggle of the strongest women remained in-tact late into the race. Eventually, it was reduced to Obiri, last year’s winner Sharon Lokedi and New York newcomer Letesenbet Gidey, whose debut in Valenica was the fastest maiden marathon in the record books. As Lokedi faded on the final approach to Central Park, Obiri and Gidey were left to fight it out, Gidey with her serene, gliding style a glaring contrast to Obiri’s street-fighting, shoulderrolling gait. As they climbed the final few hundred metres, the hustling Obiri finally established an advantage that the Ethiopian could not close, and she made the line to claim the first female Boston/New York double in the same year since Ingrid Kristiansen in 1989. It was not quite enough for

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“IT HAS BEEN A FAIRYTALE YEAR WITH ALL THE RECORDS AND MARATHON VICTORIES. IT WAS JUST AMAZING. I REALLY DON’T HAVE THE WORDS FOR IT” CATHERINE DEBRUNNER

Obiri to win the vote against Hassan for the series title. The race directors decided Hassan’s storybook debut in London and lighting-fast time in Chicago were enough to edge Obiri’s two battling performances in Boston and New York. The huge crowds lining the course also got to see Marcel Hug make history as he charged to his sixth win in six Majors, sealing the series title and a golden six star medal for his perfect season. In the women’s wheelchair race, with four women still in the hunt for the title and all of them rolling off the start on Staten Island, it was the Barbie-pink-

clad Catherine Debrunner who stormed over the VerrazanoNarrows Bridge to throw down the gauntlet to her competition. She simply blew them all away, taming the tough New York course to win the race, the series and claim an additional $50,000 for setting a new course record. She is the first woman to break 1:40 in the five boroughs. There has never been a year in which so many records were broken in an AbbottWMM season as we move into what feels like a new era in the sport. It all starts again on March 3 in Tokyo. Dare we dream that 2024 can surpass the 12 months we have just enjoyed? M

making 12 months

MAJORS looks back at a history-

their Six Star journey in 2023.

Record levels of runners completed

WORDS: Danny Coyle

26 STARS ASCENDING

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WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY SERIES

t the beginning of 2023, the Six Star Finisher family totalled just over 8,000. It would take a quantum leap in the ensuing 12 months as the Abbott World Marathon Majors finally saw all six races return to their full complement in field size and overseas travel to all of the events was restored. This meant a landmark day in Majors history on the first stop of the year. Tokyo was able to welcome international runners for the first time since 2019 after Japan’s remaining COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The backlog of runners needing the race to complete their Six Star journey had swollen over three years, to the extent that more than 3,000 people would be on the start line gunning for their Six Star Medal in March. Together, they earned the race a Guinness World Record for the most Six Star finishers at a single marathon. Among them were stories of inspiration and triumph over adversity that could fill a novel and then some. Thomas Eller was one such runner, who became the world’s first deaf-born Six Star Finisher. There also were firsts for Pakistan and Egypt as those nations celebrated their inaugural Six Star

SIX STAR STORIES >>

finishers. They were joined by the USA’s Becky McMorries, who suffered a fractured hip and was helped the rest of the way by a collection of runners who had never met until they came together to make sure she would cross that finish line. In Boston, the numbers were not in their thousands, but the race did see a record high of 684 new members of the Hall of Fame. The great Irina Mikitenko was one of them. The three-time elite series champion, who has wins

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in London and Berlin on her Six Star Certificate plus second and third places in Tokyo and Chicago, crossed the line on Boylston Street in 3:19:16. She was some way ahead of another incoming member of the Six Star family who was making her third bid to earn her Boston star. Alexandria Williams had been scuppered by the weather in 2018 and the cut-off time in 2022, but was back to complete her journey in 2023. In London, a cult hero joined the list. Yuki Kawauchi, who defied the experts as well as the weather to win the 2018 Boston Marathon, stormed home at the front of the mass race in the British capital to complete his set of six. Berlin was next. At the front of the race, Tigist Assefa was busy smashing the women’s world record, while further back down the field, another small slice of history was made by Rabia Naeem, who became Pakistan’s first female Six Star Finisher. Bolivia also celebrated its first member of the Hall of Fame when Leonardo Claros completed his journey. The mountainous South American nation doubled its tally two weeks later in Chicago when

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Rodrigo Vasquez Del Carpio reach his final finish line. The Windy City also saw the great Liz Nuttall née McColgan earn her medal. The Scottish legend won world 10,000m gold in 1991 and then won on her marathon debut in New York City in the same year. She also triumphed in London in 1996. Nuttall reignited her Six Star medal quest in 2022 when she ran Boston and Berlin, and then completed Tokyo and Chicago this year. New York rounded the year off with another 190 runners collecting their hardware in Central Park. They included the inspirational Simone Carniglia, who became the world’s fastest Type 1 diabetic Six Star Finisher when he completed his journey. The lists are already growing at pace for the 2024 intake of Six Star Hopefuls. Tokyo is promising to be another bumper crop as the international contingent continues to make its return to the land of the rising sun. It will kick off what is sure to be another year of inspiring tales and memorable moments for runners reaching that final finish line to receive their medal. M

28 Six Star Stats

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SIX STAR FINISHER FACTS LATEST SIX STAR FINISHER FACTS FOLLOWING THE 2023 TCS NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

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NUMBER OF ATHLETES WHO HAVE COMPLETED THIER JOURNEY MORE THAN ONCE RUNNERS WHO HAVE MORE THAN ONE SIX STAR MEDAL

RUNNERS COMPLETING ALL 6 MAJORS IN ONE CALENDAR YEAR

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RUNNERS COMPLETING THEIR FIRST SIX STAR JOURNEY IN 2023

RUNNERS COMPLETING AN ADDITIONAL SIX STAR JOURNEY IN 2023 AT

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ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR

The Sydney Marathon has passed stage one of its candidacy to become an Abbott World Marathon Major WORDS: Danny Coyle

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t was announced in November that the Sydney Marathon will now proceed to the second stage of the candidacy process in its attempt to join the Abbott World Marathon Majors series. The marathon was assessed in September 2023 and was judged to have met the criteria set out by Abbott World Marathon Majors in its second year of candidacy. Sydney will now be required to meet the criteria for a second consecutive year when it stages its

“OUR TEAM WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE EFFORTS MADE TO MEET THE CRITERIA” DAWNA STONE

next marathon on September 15, 2024. If it is successful, the race would join the Majors in 2025, becoming the first race added to the series since the induction of the Tokyo Marathon in 2013. “Our assessment team found that the 2023 Sydney Marathon has made significant improvements in a number of areas where we required it to raise standards following its 2022 event,” said AbbottWMM CEO, Dawna Stone. “The team was impressed with the efforts made to meet the criteria set out in the assessment process, and we now look forward to returning in 2024 for the next stage of their candidacy.” The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was also assessed in October 2023 – its second assessment year – and while it has not yet achieved a pass, the race was found by AbbottWMM’s team to have made significant strides towards the standards set out in the assessment criteria. The race will continue its journey in the first stage of the process when the AbbottWMM assessment team visits the next edition of the race in October 2024. The Chengdu Marathon also underwent

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assessment in October 2023, which was the team’s second opportunity to assess the event, and will also continue its stage one assessment journey in 2024 to achieve its first pass. CEO of Destination New South Wales, Steve Cox said the New South Wales Government was excited by the news. “What a fantastic achievement by the Sydney Marathon in meeting the Abbott World Marathon Majors criteria this year. “2023 was a record-breaking marathon for Australia so a huge congratulations to the organisers, Pont3, and all involved in achieving this important milestone. ”The New South Wales Government is thrilled to be partnering with Sydney Marathon on its journey to becoming an Abbott World Marathon Major. Here’s to making next year’s event even bigger and better to achieve the ultimate goal of celebrating Sydney Marathon as one of the elite marathon events in the world in 2025.” Wayne Larden, Sydney Marathon Race Director said: “The success of the 2023 event is a testament to the passion and dedication of the local and international running community, supporting not only Sydney but also Australia in its goal of hosting an Abbott World Marathon Major. “The Sydney Marathon has already received thousands more registrations compared to this time last year, and the event is on track to achieve record numbers again in 2024.” Abbott World Marathon Majors have also confirmed that the current Six Star Finisher program will remain unaffected should new marathons join the series, and there will be a new additional awards program for runners achieving more than six stars. Plans for this program will be finalised and announced in the second quarter of 2024. Dawna Stone said: “We have been listening to our community and fully appreciate the huge appeal of the Six Star Medal. We are also aware of the tens of thousands of runners on their Six Star journey whose strong desire is for this goal to stay in place. “We have therefore decided that this original award for completing all six current Abbott World Marathon Majors will continue.” M

ISSUE 4

AGE GROUPERS IN THIS SECTION RACES IN Take a quick shot at a qualifier in early 2024 FOCUS 38 or plan your target for 12 months’ time

40 AGE GROUP STAT STARS There’s a new masters’ record holder in town

34 CHAMPIONS PARADE A look back at the 2024 World Champs

34 AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPS

MAJORS

AGE GROUPERS SHINE IN CHICAGO The third AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships saw records set and new world champions crowned on a fast day in the Windy City

he AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships landed in the United States for the first time in 2023. Over 2,500 runners toed the start line at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon to run for the title of Age Group World Champion, with near perfect conditions setting the stage for fast running in the Windy City. Among them was the great Gene Dykes, who had narrowly missed his age group’s American record two weeks earlier at the BMW BERLINMARATHON. He was not to be denied on this occasion. Sporting his bright pink running shirt emblazoned with the ‘Ultra-geezer’ moniker his daughter coined for him, Dykes blazed his way to 3:17:01 to win the M75-79 title and take the American record down in style. “It feels good to set a goal and then achieve it,” said Dykes. “You can do that whether you’re going

ISSUE 4

AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPS 35

36 AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPS

MAJORS

for records or not. My favorite world record is No. 1 for enjoying running. It’s a 50,00-way tie but that’s a record everyone should go for.” Dykes was joined in the record books by the irrepressible Jeannie Rice, who set a time of 3:34:32 in the F70-74 category to claim a new world record in that age group. Another American, Jenny Hitchings, confirmed her status as the quickest 60-64-year-old female on the planet, also setting a new world record of 2:49:33 to claim that age group crown as well. Hitchings’ time would have been quick enough to win the F50-54 and F55-59 categories. Hitchings was followed home by the 2022 champion Mary Slocum from Ireland, who took the silver medal in 3:10:48 to add to the first place she claimed in London the previous year. Slocum lost her husband John to bowel cancer in 2017 and began running seriously following his passing.

2023 ABBOTTWMM WANDA AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPIONS Women F40-44

Hannah Templehagen

GER