Press Release - World Marathon Majors - 11/7/10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  ING New York City Marathon Marks Conclusion of 2009-2010 World Marathon 
Majors Series; Ethiopia's Gebremariam and Kenya's Kiplagat Claim NYC Titles

NEW YORK CITY, November 7, 2010 - The running of the 41st ING New York City 
Marathon marked the official conclusion of the 2009-2010 World Marathon 
Majors series. The overall series standings remained largely unchanged with 
Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru and Russia's Liliya Shobukhova having both taken 
insurmountable leads after victories at the Bank of America Chicago 
Marathon last month. However, New York City race champions Gebre 
Gebremariam of Ethiopia and Edna Kiplagat of Kenya added their names to the 
mix with their 25-point efforts.

Gebremariam, running his marathon debut, out-dueled veteran Emmanuel Mutai 
of Kenya to be the first across the finish line in Central Park in 2:08:14. 
Gebremariam's victory puts him in a three-way tie for ninth in the 
2009-2010 WMM series standings with his first-ever WMM points. Mutai 
(2:09:18) climbed from fourth to third in the series standings with 50 
points. His second place finish was his third in a row at a WMM event - he 
was runner-up at the 2010 Virgin London Marathon and the silver medalist at 
the 2009 IAAF World Championship Marathon.

Kiplagat, running in her first New York City Marathon, beat a pair of 
marathon rookies, Shalane Flanagan of the U.S. and Mary Keitany of Kenya, 
with a strong finish in Central Park. Kiplagat's winning time of 2:28:20 
was 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Flanagan (2:28:40) and 41 seconds ahead 
of third place finisher Keitany (2:29:01). Kiplagat's 25 points are the 
first WMM points of her career, launching her into a six-way tie for fifth 
in the final 2009-2010 WMM series standings.

Series champions Wanjiru and Shobukhova will be honored tomorrow at a World 
Marathon Majors banquet in New York City where they will be awarded with 
their $500,000 USD first place prizes.

2009-2010 World Marathon Majors Series Top 5:

Top 5 Men
Place  Name                Country   Point Total
1      Samuel Wanjiru      KEN       75
2      Tesgaye Kebede      ETH       65
3      Emmanuel Mutai      KEN       50
4      Deriba Merga        ETH       35 
5      Jaouad Gharib       MAR       30

Top 5 Women
Place  Name                Country   Point Total
1      Liliya Shobukhova   RUS       85 
2      Irina Mikitenko     GER       41 
3      Salina Kosgei       KEN       36
4      Teyba Erkesso       ETH       30
5      Xue Bai             CHN       25 
5      Bezunesh Bekele     ETH       25
5      Atsede Habtamu      ETH       25
5      Aberu Kebede        ETH       25
5      Edna Kiplagat       KEN       25  
5      Derartu Tulu        ETH       25
  www.worldmarathonmajors.com
 
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