World Marathon Majors: $500k on line for Men at 2011 ING NYCM for 2010-11 World Marathon Majors series! release, note by Larry Eder

Patrick Makau, 2011 BMW Berlin Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net

Well the battle for the Men’s title for the 2010-2011 Marathon Majors is heating up, and the final forays will be seen on Sunday at the 2011 ING NYCM Marathon. Patrick Makau set the new World Record at the BMW Berlin marathon in September, running 2:03:38.

So, who could take the $500k from Patrick Makau? Read on, dear readers!

The Men’s Race is on for the
$500,000 Prize Purse of the

2010-2011 World Marathon Majors Series

Marathon Superstars to Settle the
Score at 2011 ING New York City Marathon

BOSTON (October 31,
2011)— The men’s race for the 2010-2011
World Marathon Majors title will come down to the wire this weekend in the Big
Apple. A cast of potential winners will toe the starting line on the Verrazano-Narrows
Bridge in the ING New York
City Marathon, the eleventh and final race of the two-year WMM cycle. The
women’s competition was won in October, when Liliya Shobukhova
(Russia) broke the tape in the Bank of
America Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:18:20, and set an insurmountable
30-point lead in the standings to win the $500,000 prize.

Things are much tighter on the
men’s side. Standings leader Patrick Makau of Kenya has used repeat victories in
the BMW Berlin Marathon in 2011 and 2010 (25 points each), as well as a third
place finish in the 2011 Virgin London Marathon (10 points), to build a five
point lead over the pack. With his world record performance of 2:03:38 in
Berlin coming just six weeks ago, his season is
complete, his point total is set at 60, and he won’t compete on Sunday in
New York.

The World Marathon Majors Point
Structure:

1^st
Place – 25 pts. 2^nd Place – 15 pts. 3^rd Place – 10 pts. 4^th Place – 5 pts. 5^th Place – 1
pt.

In pursuit of Makau, the field is
thick and talented. Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya (55 pts.), Tsegaye Kebede of
Ethiopia (41 pts.), Geoffrey
Mutai of Kenya (40 pts.), and
Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia (35 pts.) are all
statistically in the hunt to win the grand prize on Sunday. Moses Mosop of
Kenya (40 pts.), is just four
weeks removed from his 2:05:37 win in Chicago,
and he too, will not compete in New
York.

Current Standings:
Place     NAME

Points   If 1st      If 2nd    If 3rd     If 4th     If 5th
Comments

1st
Patrick Makau
60




Not in NYC

2nd
Emmanuel Mutai
55
80
70
65
60
56

3rd
Tsegaye Kebede
41
66
56
51
46
42

4th
Moses Mosop
40





Not in NYC

4th
Geoffrey Mutai
40
65
55
50
45
41

6th
Gebre Gebremariam      35
60
50
45
40
36

Possible
Scenarios:
The four competitors can
drastically alter the landscape of the leaderboard with an array of
combinations.

Patrick Makau can only win the
Series if Emmanuel Mutai finishes no higher than fifth and Kebede, G. Mutai, and
Gebremariam don’t win in NYC. Should E. Mutai finish fourth, and Kebede and G.
Mutai not win, E. Mutai would take the tiebreaker over Makau because of his
higher placement in the 2011 Virgin London Marathon.

Emmanuel Mutai can
also win with a first or second finish in NYC, or a third place finish in NYC
combined with G. Mutai or Kebede placing not higher than second. For Tsegaye Kebede to win the Series, he
must win NYC and Emmanuel Mutai must place no higher than third.

For Geoffrey Mutai to win the Series, he must win NYC and
E. Mutai must finish no higher than third. If
E. Mutai does finish third, they’d both be tied at 65. The title would go to G.
Mutai as his performance on Sunday would be better in his head-to-head matchup
than Emmanuel’s.

Gebre Gebremariam can win the
Series if E. Mutai finishes no higher than
fifth, and G. Mutai and Kebede finish no higher than second. He would then be tied with Makau at 60
points. Without head-to-head competition with Makau, the next tie-breakers are:
most points achieved in the fewest number qualifying races, number of wins, and
average time (respectively) will be employed. In this instance, both Gebremariam
and Makau will have won two races and placed in three. Makau would likely take
victory with his lower average time. Should a tie remain after all tiebreakers
are in effect, the five race directors
will determine the Series champion.

The
Leaders:

1. Patrick MakauÂ- Kenya –
60 points
1st,2011 BMW Berlin Marathon – 2:03:38 (WR) – 25 pts.

3rd, 2011 Virgin London Marathon – 2:05:45 – 10 pts.
1st, 2010 -real, Berlin
Marathon – 2:05:08 – 25 pts.

2. Emmanuel Mutai – Kenya – 55
points (Season finished)

1st, 2011 Virgin London Marathon – 2:04:40 – 25 pts.

2nd, 2010 ING New York City Marathon –
2:09:18 – 15 pts.

2nd, 2010 Virgin London Marathon – 2:06:23
– 15 pts.

3. Tsegaye Kebede –
Ethiopia – 41
points

5th, 2011 Virgin London Marathon – 2:07:48
– 1 pt.

2nd, 2010 Bank of
America Chicago Marathon – 2:06:43
– 15 pts.

1st, 2010 Virgin London Marathon – 2:05:19
– 25 pts.

4t. Moses Mosop – Kenya
– 40 points (Season
finished)

1st, 2011 Bank of
America Chicago Marathon – 2:05:37
– 25 pts.

2nd, 2011 Boston Marathon – 2:03:06
– 15 pts.

4t. Geoffrey Mutai – Kenya –
40 pts.

1st, 2011 Boston Marathon – 2:03:02
– 25 pts.

2nd, 2010 -real, Berlin Marathon –
2:05:08 – 15 pts.

6. Gebre Gebremariam – Ethiopia – 35
pts.

DNF, 2011 IAAF World Championships
– 0 pts.

3rd, 2011 Boston Marathon –
2:04:53 – 10
pts.

1st, 2010 ING New York City Marathon –
2:08:14 – 25 pts.

Complete WMM Series leaderboards
are posted at worldmarathonmajors.com.

Media
Contacts:

Boston:
Jack Fleming +1 617.236.1652 ext. 2627

Boston:
T.K. Skenderian +1 617.778.1632

London:
Nicola Okey + 44 207.902.0182

Berlin:
Thomas Steffens + 49 171.933.4836

Chicago:
Robin Monsky +1 312.992.6630

New
York:
Richard Finn +1 212.423.2229

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Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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