World Marathon Majors

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World Marathon Majors
Sport	Marathon running
Founded	2006
No. of teams	individual sport
Official website	Official site

The World Marathon Majors is a championship-style competition that started in 2006. It comprises five annual races in Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City. Two other races are also included in the series: the IAAF World Championships Marathon (in odd-numbered years) and the Olympic Games Marathon (in years evenly divisible by four). Each WMM series spans two calendar years; the second year of a series overlaps with the first year of the next. The inaugural period was 2006-2007 and the second period is 2007-2008. Men and women compete separately.

Athletes who compete in the marathons will receive points for finishing in any of the top five places (1st 25; 2nd 15; 3rd 10; 4th 5 and 5th 1). Their four highest ranks over the two-year period will be counted; if an athlete scores points in more than this number, the athlete's four best races will be scored. To be eligible for the jackpot, an athlete must compete in at least one qualifying race in each calendar year of the series. In case there are equal top scores at the end of the competition the tiebreakers are head-to-head competition and, if necessary, a majority vote of the five WMM race directors.

At the end of each WMM series the leading man and woman will each win $500,000.

1 Marathons
2 Leader Boards
- 2.1 2006/2007 Series final standings
- 2.2 2007/2008 Series
3 Legendary Marathoners
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Marathons

Boston Marathon - Boston, Massachusetts - mid April
London Marathon - London, England - late April
Berlin Marathon - Berlin, Germany - late September
Chicago Marathon - Chicago, Illinois, USA - early October
New York City Marathon - New York, New York, USA - early November

[edit] Leader Boards

[edit] 2006/2007 Series final standings

MEN
Place	Name	Country	Points
1.	Robert Cheruiyot	KEN	80 pts.
2.	Martin Lel	KEN	60 pts.
3.	Haile Gebrselassie	ETH	50 pts.
4.	Felix Limo	KEN	35 pts.
5.	Abderrahim Goumri	MAR	30 pts.
6.	Marilson Gomes dos Santos	BRA	25 pts.
6.	Stephen Kiogora	KEN	25 pts.
6.	Luke Kibet	KEN	25 pts.
6.	Patrick Ivuti	KEN	25 pts.
6.	Daniel Njenga	KEN	25 pts.

WOMEN
Place	Name	Country	Points
1.	Gete Wami	ETH	80 pts.
2.	Jelena Prokopcuka	LAT	65 pts.
3.	Berhane Adere	ETH	55 pts.
4.	Zhou Chunxiu	CHN	40 pts.
5.	Catherine Ndereba	KEN	36 pts.
6.	Rita Jeptoo	KEN	35 pts.
7.	Lidiya Grigoryeva	RUS	31 pts.
8.	Deena Kastor	USA	26 pts.
9.	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	25 pts.
10.	Salina Kosgei	KEN	20 pts.
10.	Reiko Tosa	JPN	20 pts.

[edit] 2007/2008 Series

The top scorers through the spring 2008 London and Boston marathons:

MEN
Place	Name	Country	Points
1.	Martin Lel	KEN	75 pts.
2.	Robert Cheruiyot	KEN	55 pts.
3.	Abderrahim Goumri	MAR	40 pts.
4.	Luke Kibet	KEN	25 pts.
4.	Haile Gebrselassie	ETH	25 pts.
4.	Patrick Ivuti	KEN	25 pts.
7.	Jaouad Gharib	MAR	20 pts.
8.	James Kwambai	KEN	16 pts.
9.	Mubarak Hassan Shami	QAT	15 pts.
9.	Abderrahime Bouramdane	MAR	15 pts.
9.	Abel Kirui	KEN	15 pts.

WOMEN
Place	Name	Country	Points
1.	Gete Wami	ETH	65 pts.
2.	Zhou Chunxiu	CHN	40 pts.
2.	Irina Mikitenko	GER	40 pts.
4.	Lidiya Grigoryeva	RUS	30 pts.
4.	Jelena Prokopcuka	LAT	30 pts.
6.	Catherine Ndereba	KEN	26 pts.
7.	Berhane Adere	ETH	25 pts.
7.	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	25 pts.
7.	Dire Tune	ETH	25 pts.
10.	Adriana Pirtea	ROM	15 pts.
10.	Alevtina Biktimirova	RUS	15 pts.
10.	Rita Jeptoo	KEN	15 pts.
10.	Svetlana Zakharova	RUS	15 pts.

[edit] Legendary Marathoners

Although the World Marathon Majors competition officially began in 2006, many of history’s greatest marathoners built their reputations on races that make up the series.

Norway’s Grete Waitz was the most prolific winner among the WMM events. Her nine victories at New York City (1978-1980, 1982-1986, 1988) are the most in any one of these races and she added two more at London (1983, 1986) and the 1983 World Championships. She is the only runner in history, male or female, to win three World Marathon Majors in one calendar year.

Kenyan Catherine Ndereba placed in the top three a record 16 times: eight firsts (Chicago 2000-2001; Boston 2000-2001, 2004-2005; World Championships 2003, 2007), seven seconds (New York 1999, 2003; Boston 2002; Chicago 2002; London 2003; Olympic Games 2004; World Championships 2005) and one third (New York 2006). Her countrywoman, Joyce Chepchumba, had 16 top five places.

Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway had the unique distinction of wining four different City marathons: London (1984-1985, 1987-1988), Boston (1986, 1989), Chicago (1986) and New York (1989).

American Bill Rodgers had the greatest concentration of World Marathon Majors victories. From April 1975 through April 1980 he won eight such races, with four Boston wins (1975, 1978-1980) and four New York City victories (1976-1979).

The Boston Marathon has provided the stage for many exceptional accomplishments. Clarence DeMar won there seven times (1911, 1922-24, 1927-28, 1930) and was the oldest WMM Champion at age 41. John A. Kelley collected 10 top threes and 15 top fives in a 17-year span between 1934 and 1950; he competed in the race in eight different decades from the 1920s through the 1990s, finishing 58 times.