Marathon's runners celebration: results at the most important worldwide Marathon on April 17th 2011

Please note that results of today's worldwide marathons are at the bottom of this post.


Let's start today's post with a sorrow note. Unfortunately the Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon this year will not take place. Considering the seriousness of the disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, the Nagano Marathon Organizing Committee has decided to cancel the 13th marathon race which usually takes place in the third week of April. Good news is that the marathon will contribute to help the local population in Fukushima, since the organizers donated the total entry fee of 76 million yen (from 8,973 runners) to support the disaster area.


However, this week-end is clearly a runners' celebration, since several competitions are taking place across the globe. London, Madrid and Vienna are the three big marathons for this week-end, with the 115th edition of the Boston Marathon taking place on Monday April 18th. There are also additional marathon events and we believe that more than 70 thousands runners will complete a marathon this week-end.


The most important one is the London Marathon that, due to Easter holidays, has been brought back be one week. London is the second largest marathon in the world after NYCM, and clearly one of the fastest. London is a flat course around the River Thames and finishes at The Mall closed to St James' Palace. 36,553 athletes reached the finish line in 2010. This year the London Marathon is sponsored by Virgin Money and is at the thirdy-first edition. 
This Sunday there will also be the "Maraton de Madrid", which is at the thirty-eighth edition and takes place through the streets of the beautiful Spanish capital. Last year 8,292 runners arrived at the finish line, representing the 30th place in the world ranking. 

Haile Gebreselassie, source: IAAF

Also on the 17th of April, there is the Vienna Marathon, in a romantic and charming city, with the marathon route passing through the landmarks of the city. Runners today could listen to a nice classical music. Last year in Vienna 5,031 runners completed the 26.2 miles, representing the 60th place in the world ranking. Ethiopian marathon world record holder, Haile Gebreselassie will participate to the Vienna half marathon. At the Zurich Marathon, which is the 93rd worldwide marathon in term of runners, we will see the participation of former professional cyclist Laurent Dufaux and the world Ironing champion. Last year 3,169 runners completed the Zurich Marathon route, where runners can see the beautiful Lake Zurich. Moreover, last year in Padua, Italy, 1,875 runners arrived in Prato della Valle at the Saint Antonio Marathon, representing the 8th largest marathon in Italy and one of the top 200 in the world. There are also Cracovia Marathon (top 96th in the world ranking in 2010), Belgrade Marathon and Antwerp Marathon, to complete the list of the marathon running on the 17th of April. Finally, another interesting event took place today in Nice, the "Nice Semi marathon", Nice Half marathon, with the second part of the race very close to the sea, with more than  more than 10 thousand athletes running at the Promenade des Anglais.


Since few readers are interested to see the full results, you can find below the ranking for the different competitions this Sunday April 17th 2011:
2011 London Marathon results,
2011 Vienna Marathon results,
2011 Madrid Marathon results,
2011 Zurich Marathon results,
2011 Padua (Padova) Marathon results,
2011 Antwerp Marathon Ranking, (*)
2011 Belgrade Banca Intesa Marathon results,
2011 Cracovia Marathon Ranking,
2011 Nice Half Marathon Ranking.