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Evans Chebet and Sharon Lokedi represented Kenya well Sunday, winning the New York City Marathon in the men's and women's races.
In the case of Chebet, he became the first man since 2011 to win the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon in the same year. The 33-year-old crossed the finish line with an unofficial time of 2:08:41.
Lokedi completed her run unofficially in 2:23:23.
Daniel do Nascimento set a blistering pace to open the race. Through 10 km, he was averaging 4:34 per mile and maintained a 4:51 pace at the halfway mark. The Brazilian collapsed and required medical attention after completing 21 miles, though.
Per Reuters, race officials had yet to provide an update on his status.
With Do Nascimento out of the race, Shura Kitata mounted the strongest challenge to Chebet, but he was unable to chase down the Kenyan. He was just under 13 seconds behind when he hit the line.
Lokedi was on her maiden marathon voyage and made the debut one to remember.
The 28-year-old paced herself at the start and preserved her stamina for the latter stages of the grueling contest. Through 25 km, her average mile time was 5:34. Her splits over the next five intervals were all sub-5:30, and her pace (5:20) at the finish matched her best of the race.
Scott Fauble (2:13:35) and Aliphine Tuliamuk (2:26:18) were the top-performing Americans in the men's and women's marathons. Fauble's time was good enough for ninth, with Tuliamuk claiming seventh.
Galen Rupp, a two-time Olympic medalist, competed in the men's marathon but was unable to complete the 26.2-mile course.
Every November, a huge number of runners hit the streets of New York City to go through a 26.2-mile course that begins in Staten Island and hits each of the Big Apple's five boroughs. The New York City Marathon is an annual tradition that returned in 2021, following a one-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year's edition of the marathon is set to take place Sunday, and it will be the 51st running of the race. According to Cindy Boren of The Washington Post, there's a field of 50,000 participants expected for the 2022 edition.
The New York City Marathon will air on ESPN2 from 8:30-11:30 a.m. ET and can be streamed live on the ESPN app.
While the field will feature some top runners battling for the lead and looking to potentially set a new event record, others will just race for fun. And then, there will also be some celebrities in the field competing for charities.
So, there will be quite a few famous faces for viewers to keep an eye out for.
Actor Ashton Kutcher will be among the first-time participants in this year's NYC Marathon. The 44-year-old is racing for Thorn, his non-profit charity that aims to defend children from sexual abuse.
"It's not like anything I've done before in my own life," Kutcher said of the marathon, per Joe Holder of GQ. "And really just kind of just a test of my own mettle to ensure that I sort of regain my own personal physical dominance."
Actresses Ellie Kemper and Claire Holt are among the other TV/film stars participating in New York City on Sunday. Kemper is running for The Brotherhood Sister Sol, while Holt is competing for the Boston Children’s Hospital.
Nev Schulman, who is the host of MTV's Catfish, has participated in the New York City Marathon multiple times before. And the 38-year-old NYC native will be back again in 2022, racing for NYRR Team for Kids.
This year, Schulman has his sights set on trying to beat Kutcher, too.
“I mean the truth is, yes, I’m trying to set a new personal record, but I’m really just trying to run faster than Ashton,” Schulman said, per Sarah Jones of HollywoodLife. “Because honestly, this is probably my only chance to beat Ashton Kutcher at something. That’s really the goal if I’m being perfectly honest.”
There will be some former/current pro athletes in the NYC Marathon field as well. Among them is former NFL player Tiki Barber, Olympic cross-country skier Marit Bjorgen, Olympic hockey player Meghan Duggan, former tennis player Monica Puig and IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe.
Briscoe won't be alone, either. Like last year, his wife, Nicole, who is a NASCAR anchor for ESPN, will also be competing in the New York City Marathon.
“We were both saying last year how emotional it was coming up through Brooklyn, with all the crowds cheering and everything, it’s just incredible," Ryan Briscoe said of the NYC Marathon's 2021 return, per Jaclyn Hendricks of the New York Post.
And that was for last year's race, which was limited to 30,000 participants due to COVID-19 protocols. With nearly twice that many competitors this year, the atmosphere in New York City should be even better.
Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky, the two competitors accused of attempting to cheat in an Ohio fishing tournament, pleaded not guilty to several felony charges Wednesday.
The two men were charged earlier this month with felony cheating, attempted grand theft and possessing criminal tools, along with misdemeanor counts of unlawfully owning wild animals after allegedly stuffing walleye with lead weights and fillets at a Lake Erie fishing tournament in September.
If successful, Runyan and Cominsky would have won $28,760 in prizes.
Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament director Jason Fischer suspected Runyan and Cominsky of cheating when their fish weighed significantly more than a typical walleye of their size. Fischer then cut the fish open, finding the weights and fillets stuffed inside.
"It would be like saying a five-foot-tall person weighs 500 pounds, but you look at him and he looks like an athlete," professional angler Ross Robertson told Vimal Patel of the New York Times. "These fish were so bulging."
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources confiscated the fish to launch a formal criminal investigation, and Runyan and Cominsky were disqualified from the event.
Neither man has issued a public comment on the matter. They were released Wednesday after each posting a $2,500 bond.
Competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi won't face discipline from Iran's Olympic committee for competing without a headscarf at an event in South Korea last weekend.
Mahmoud Khosravi Vafa, Iran Olympic committee president, told the Associated Press the organization won't suspend Rekabi for what he called an "unintentional" act on her part.
Rekabi finished fourth at the IFSC Asian Championships in Seoul. She was not wearing a hijab during the event. Iranian laws require women to wear a headscarf and cover their arms and legs with loose clothing.
Protests have broken out across Iran to protest the hijab laws in the wake of the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini.
Per Anisha Kohli of Time, Amini was arrested Sept. 13 for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely, and "many Iranians are alleging that she was killed by law enforcement."
Citing state media, Kohli noted that, as of Sept. 24, at least 17 people have died in the protests, with others arrested and injured, as the result of "a brutal crackdown from the government" using riot police.
On Oct. 18, two days after the competition ended, there were conflicting reports about Rekabi's whereabouts and well-being.
Citing Iran Wire, Joyce Karam of The National passed along reports Rekabi was being flown to Evin prison after she had gone missing and had her phone confiscated.
According to Justin McCurry and Moones Mansoubi of The Guardian, a story posted on Rekabi's Instagram account Tuesday indicated she was safe and traveling back to Iran as scheduled.
The story also said Rekabi's hijab "unintentionally became problematic" because of the timing and sudden call to begin her climb.
Per Rebecca Wright, Mitchell McCluskey, Yoonjung Seo and Mostafa Salem of CNN, Rekabi arrived in Tehran on Wednesday, and videos posted on social media showed crowds gathered at the airport chanting, "Elnaz the hero."
According to the Associated Press, Rekabi's supporters remain "worried" for her "as other athletes have been targeted by the government for supporting the weeks-long protests rocking Iran."
Khosravi Vafa said he spoke directly to Rekabi "and told her that you definitely are very talented in sports and you should continue down this path to maybe qualify for the Paris Olympics and you'll be fully supported by the Iranian Olympic committee."
According to the Associated Press, Khosravi Vafa "didn't specifically address suspicions that Iranian authorities confiscated Rekabi's passport after the event in Seoul and forced her to leave early." He also described her as "a guest at Iran's Olympic committee hotel for one day, along with her family," although there was reportedly some question over whether Rekabi had a choice in the matter.
Rekabi is a three-time medal winner at the Asian Championships. She won silver in bouldering at the 2013 event and two bronzes in lead in 2014 and speed relay in 2016.
The 33-year-old also won bronze in the combined event at the 2021 World Championships in Moscow.
Four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey died of cancer at the age of 52 on Wednesday.
A statement announcing his passing was made on Lance Mackey's Comeback Kennel Facebook page.
Mackey was the only musher to ever win the Iditarod and the Yukon Gold Quest in the same year, and he did it twice (2007, 2008). He pulled off four-peats in both events, winning the Yukon Gold Quest from 2005-08 and the Iditarod from 2007-10. Brad Joyal of the Associated Press called him the "Michael Jordan of mushing."
Mackey's career and life accomplishments go far beyond that stretch though. Simply put, his resilience in the face of significant adversity was nothing short of inspiring.
The Alaska Sports Hall of Famer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2001 after discovering a lump in his neck. One year later, he was running the Iditarod with a tube in his stomach, per Bob Eley and Beth Bragg for the Hall of Fame website.
A few years later, doctors amputated his left index finger because of nerve damage from the cancer. That didn't stop him from engineering the greatest run in the sport's history in the mid-to-late 2000s.
The feat is even more remarkable when considering that Mackey won both iconic races two years running despite the need to go 2,000 miles total in a span of fewer than 40 days.
According to Zaz Hollander and Zachariah Hughes of the Anchorage Daily News, Mackey also lost most of his teeth in 2014 because of radiation treatments.
He also had Raynaud’s disease which "causes some areas of your body—such as your fingers and toes—to feel numb and cold in response to cold temperatures or stress," per the Mayo Clinic.
Mackey was diagnosed with throat cancer again in Aug. 2021.
On Aug. 5, 2022, Mackey announced on his Facebook page that those original tumors were successfully treated.
However, he revealed that the cancer had returned. Mackey noted that "the past several months have been the hardest/worst part" and that he had "been in a hospital with 24-hour care." TMZ Sports noted that he had been in and out of a hospital since late June.
Kind words and remembrances poured in on his Facebook page and throughout numerous obituaries published after news of his death broke. Jack Barnwell of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner opened his piece on Mackey by succinctly describing the legend as follows:
"Mushing champion Lance Mackey was symbolic of the quintessential Alaskan—a scrappy spirit and weathered toughness that saw him through a long dog mushing career despite serious health challenges. His character earned him respect from an army of fans and fellow mushers."
A statement from the Iditarod Facebook page said that Mackey "embodied the Spirit of the Race, the tenacity of an Alaskan musher, displayed the ultimate show of perseverance and was loved by his fans."
Mackey is survived by two children with his partner, Jennifer Smith, who passed away in 2020.
Ironman athlete Brian Kozera died Saturday after a bicycle crash in Pennsylvania, according to TMZ Sports. He was 44 years old.
According to TMZ, the crash report stated Kozera collided with a pickup truck after running a stop sign, was thrown from his bike and caught in the truck's rear wheel.
The Pennsylvania native was also an officer in the Norristown Police Department, which released a statement after his death:
"Big loss for our department, for our community," police chief Derrick Woods said, per Fox29. "I got so many emails and text messages from people in the community showing how much he mean to them, how much they'll miss him."
Kozera began training for Ironman competitions after surviving cancer in 2015, as he discussed in his personal blog. He completed his first full Ironman in June 2016 and finished six total 140.6-mile competitions.
He was training for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii scheduled for October 2022.
Simon Ricci and Brooke Starn were the top performers in the men's and women's events at Sunday's San Francisco Marathon.
Ricci clocked in at 2:31:42. He did a great job of preserving his stamina for the latter stages of the race. He was averaging 5:25 per mile when he hit the 24-mile mark and 5:33 as he crossed the finish line.
That helped Ricci wrap up well ahead of Sumner Jones, who completed his race in 2:38.48.
Starn, who ran competitively for Harvard before transferring to UC Davis, averaged 6:18 per mile for a 2:44:38 overall time. Traversing the downtown terrain was probably nothing new for the Danville, California, native.
Cal Calamia, meanwhile, made history as the first-ever non-binary marathon winner (3:00:03). They were also the top performer in the non-binary category in the Bay to Breakers in May.
The San Francisco full marathon got underway along The Embarcadero near Mission Street. Competitors ran along the San Francisco Bay until crossing the legendary Golden Gate Bridge.
Upon turning back toward the city, runners traveled through the Presidio and Golden Gate Park before heading east toward the bay and along the coast to the finish.
The San Francisco Marathon celebrates its 45th year in 2022, and as such, it's only appropriate that this year's race is setting itself up as the biggest and most inclusive in its history.
According to the Examiner, 25,000 runners are registered for this weekend's race, including those who will participate remotely using a virtual rendering of the course. In addition to the full 26.2-mile marathon, there will also be a half-marathon, a 10K, a 5K, and an ultramarathon relay (with two- and four-person teams).
The race is also aiming to be more inclusive than ever, creating a nonbinary category that will receive scoring and age-group awards alongside the men and women in the full marathon and the two half-marathons.
Though oppressive heat has been sweeping the U.S., weather in the Bay Area on Sunday will be typically temperate, with a high of 65 and a 15 percent chance of rain as of Friday evening, per weather.com.
Let's break down all the information you'll need to know as the race circles the city this weekend, including road closures, the course map and when and how to watch the runners.
San Francisco Marathon 2022 Details
Date: Sunday, July 24
Start time: 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. ET
End time: 12:00 p.m. PT / 3:00 p.m. ET
Start location: Embarcadero at Mission
End location: Embarcadero at Folsom
A map of the marathon route can be found on the San Francisco Marathon website. As for course highlights, the race begins in the shadow of the Bay Bridge on the Embarcadero, weaves through Fisherman's Wharf, the Marina Green and Crissy Field and then carries runners across the Golden Gate Bridge.
After running along the bay out to Cavallo Point, runners return back to the city and run through the Presidio, into Golden Gate Park and down Haight St.
Next comes the Mission District and views of the Chase Center, home to the Golden State Warriors, and Oracle Park, home to the San Francisco Giants. Then the Bay Bridge returns as runners finish again along the Embarcadero.
The roads impacted by the marathon's path through the city are, as would be expected, numerous.
Some of the major closures include northbound Embarcadero and King Street (from 3rd Street to Broadway) and southbound Embarcadero (from Broadway to Harrison Street) from 12:01 a.m. PT the morning of the race to 3 p.m. PT after the race has concluded.
As for major bridge closures, the Golden Gate Bridge is closed to drivers from the Presidio from midnight to 10 a.m.
Public transit is also affected. For a full list of road closures and affected public transportation lines, head over to KRON4's website.
Finishers will receive a special shirt, food and drink, a finisher medal and a special 45th-anniversary medal with a to-be-revealed design.
The Bay to Breakers race returned to the streets of San Francisco on Sunday for the first time since 2019 and saw Reid Buchanan and Julia Vasquez win the men's and women's races, respectively.
According to the race's official website, Buchanan posted a time of 36 minutes and 10 seconds, while Vasquez finished in 42 minutes and five seconds.
The top five men's finishers were as follows:
1. Reid Buchanan: 36:10
2. Amanuel Tikue: 36:58
3. Weston Strum: 37:44
4. Taylor Gilland: 38:35
5. Samuel Bennett: 39:09
Meanwhile, the top five women's finishers were:
1. Julia Vasquez: 42:05
2. Maya Weigel: 42:14
3. Dana Giordano: 42:28
4. Clara Peterson: 42:52
5. Anna Tait: 43:34
Buchanan is a native of San Diego, while Vasquez is from San Francisco, marking the first time an American man and woman won the race in the same year since 1981.
Buchanan is the first American male winner since Olympian Ed Eyestone in 1986, while Vasquez is the first American female winner since 1992 Olympic 10,000-meter bronze medalist Lynn Jennings in 1993.
The 29-year-old Buchanan ran collegiately at the University of Kansas before winning a silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2019 Pan American Games.
He also finished ninth in the 10,000 meters at the 2021 United States Olympic trials.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 races were run virtually, but the runners were back in all their glory Sunday.
Per KTVU Fox 2 in San Francisco, more than 10,000 runners were registered for the race, many of whom competed in colorful and over-the-top costumes.
The race began at Embarcadero near San Francisco Bay and progressed through the streets before concluding at the Great Highway near the Pacific Ocean.
As seen in the following photos and videos, there was no shortage of participants happy to see Bay to Breakers back to its usual format:
Although there is a serious competition element to the race, most were there to have fun and express themselves through their costumes.
Some of the more unique get-ups included Batman, a snowman, Oompa Loompas, a dinosaur, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and even Pennywise the clown from It:
Bay to Breakers is a true San Francisco institution with the first race taking place in 1912 and being held almost annually since then.
