Lel Clinches $500K WMM Purse, Women Head to NYC

Women’s
World Marathon Majors Series Champions’ Race
Will Come Down to Last Race of the Season

Wami,
Ndereba and Mikitenko still in the running for the $500,000 champion’s purse;
Martin Lel clinches men’s crown

 

For the second consecutive year, the World Marathon Majors
Series women‰Ûªs champions race will come down to the final race of the
season at the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday November 2, with three women
still in contention for the $500,000 champion‰Ûªs purse.

 

Reigning
WMM Series champion Gete Wami of Ethiopia (65 points), Irina Mikitenko
of Germany (65 pts) and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya
(41 points) are all in the hunt for the women‰Ûªs title. Both Wami and
Ndereba will be fighting it out on the New York
streets while Mikitenko, who won the real-Berlin Marathon
last month, will be watching ‰ÛÒ literally ‰ÛÒ from the sidelines and
hoping that things work out her way.

 

Martin Lel of Kenya (76 points) clinched the
men‰Ûªs crown and $500,000 prize with victories at the 2007 and 2008 Flora
London Marathon and last year‰Ûªs ING New York City Marathon. Only last
year‰Ûªs WMM Series champion, Lel‰Ûªs compatriot Robert K Cheruiyot (55
points) had a chance of overtaking Lel but a nagging leg injury forced him to
sit out the fall season.

 

Lel and the women‰Ûªs champion will be honored at a
special luncheon in New York City
on Monday, November 3, the day after the ING New York City Marathon.

 

The 2007-2008 women‰Ûªs WMM Series
champion will be won by Wami, Ndereba or Mikitenko.

 

• Wami holds her own destiny in
  her hands and can wrap up the championship for the second consecutive
  year, regardless of what Ndereba does, by finishing first or second in New York. Wami has
  already scored in the maximum four events so only by finishing first or
  second can she add to her point total. Wami finished second at New York last year in a tight duel with Paula
  Radcliffe of Great
  Britain, who is returning to defend her
  title.

 

• Ndereba can only win the Series
  crown by placing first in the ING New York City Marathon, and then hoping
  that Wami does not finish in second place. If that
  happens, Ndereba would have 66 points and would beat Wami by a single
  point. A victory by Ndereba in NYC would be her first ING New York City
  Marathon title.

 

• Mikitenko can only win if Wami
  does not finish in first or second place in the ING New York City Marathon
  and Ndereba also does not win the race. That would
  leave a tie between Mikitenko and Wami each with 65 points. The first
  tiebreaker is head to head and that is knotted at 1-1. Wami beat Mikitenko
  in Berlin 2007 and Mikitenko beat Wami in London 2008. The next and
  ultimate tiebreaker is a vote by the WMM race directors, which ‰ÛÒ if
  necessary ‰ÛÒ would be conducted immediately after the conclusion of
  the New York
  race.

 

Complete WMM Series leaderboards can be found at http://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/