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Peter Omae Ayieni won the 2012 P.F. Changs Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon on Sunday in Phoenix, Arizona with a time of 2:24:47.

It was a close finish as Ayieni barely held off Chad Ware who finished 11 seconds behind him in 2:24:58.  Third place was close behind as well as Jeremy Zarins completed the podium with a very fast time of 2:25:08.

What a finish with just 21 seconds separating the top three men.

2012 Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon Top Male Results

1. Peter Omae Ayieni – 2:24:47
2. Chad Ware – 2:24:58
3. Jeremy Zarins – 2:25:08
4. Alan Jackson – 2:26:02
5. Kota Reichert – 2:26:28
6. Bert Jacoby – 2:27:49
7. Juwan Nuvayokva – 2:32:27
8. Andrew Drobeck – 2:33:16
9. Roosevelt Cook – 2:33:17
10. Brendan Lunty – 2:33:36

The female winner at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon went to Trisha Miller who won with a time of 2:49:12.

Tanaya Gallagher took second (2:51:24) with Tere Derebez Zacher claiming third place (2:53:45).

2012 Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon Top Female Results

1. Trisha Miller – 2:49:12
2. Tanaya Gallagher – 2:51:24
3. Tere Derebez Zacher – 2:53:45
4. Ashley Olsen – 2:55:17
5. Nikki Vander Wiele – 2:56:21
6. Vanessa Kelley – 2:58:30
7. Julia Lemoncello – 2:59:22
8. Nicole Cheyr – 3:00:05
9. Amy Golumbia – 3:00:51
10. Danya Crawford – 3:02:12

Searchable Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon Results

Congrats to all who ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon & Half-Marathon.

[image: Dave Seibert/The Arizona Republic]

Matthew Manning won the inaugural Louisiana Marathon held Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, the state capital of Louisiana, with a winning time of 2:33:41.

Manning smoked the field, beating his nearest competitor, Chuck Engle, by nearly 11 minutes. Engle finished in 2:44:05 to barely hold off Christopher Reis who took third with a time of 2:45:38.

2012 Louisiana Marathon Results

1. Matthew Manning – 2:33:42
2. Chuck Engle – 2:44:05
3. Christopher Reis – 2:45:38
4. Matthew Urbanski – 2:51:55
5. Jacob Marsh – 2:53:20
6. Micah Mohler – 2:55:59
7. Karen Meraw – 2:58:54 (female)
8. Greg Soutiea – 2:59:13
9. Frank Livaudais – 3:00:01
10. Kevin Berger – 3:00:51

Karen Meraw was the fasest female marathoner down in ‘Red Stick’ on Sunday with a time of 2:58:54.  She beat Candace Caveny by almost ten minutes. Caveny finished in 3:08:53.  Third place female went to Grace Thacker with a time of 3:09:36.

Louisiana Marathon Searchable Results and Top Finishers

The marathon had 637 finishers.

The 2012 Louisiana Half Marathon was won by Jonathan Granger in 1:17:42 with the top female being Kelly Nicholas in 1:29:42.

2012 Louisiana Half Marathon Results

1. Jonathan Granger – 1:17:42
2. Grant Gonzalez – 1:18:12
3. Michael Anderson – 1:18:21
4. Jimmy Riccitello – 1:22:16
5. Michael Baston – 1:23:41
6. Calvin Conner – 1:24:01
7. Michael Whalen – 1:24:59
8. Van Edwards – 1:25:01
9. Luke Gehbauer – 1:25:05
10. Russ Bourgeois – 1:25:32

Louisiana Half Marathon Searchable Results and Top Finishers

Congrats to all who took part in the inaugural marathon and half marathon.

Louisiana Marathon Website

Ethiopian Tariku Jufar won the 2012 Chevron Houston Marathon on Sunday morning with a winning time of 2:06:51.  Jufar held off fellow countrymen Debebe Tolossa (2:07:41) and Demssew Tsega (2:11:13) who finished in third.

2012 Houston Marathon Results

1. Tariku Jufar – 2:06:51
2. Debebe Tolossa – 2:07:41
3. Demssew Tsega – 2:11:13
4. Shawn Forrest – 2:14:37
5. Leonardo Trejo Camargo – 2:18:10
6. Simon Bairu – 2:19:52
7. Samuel Kosgei – 2:21:05
8. Vasileios Pouliopoulos – 2:21:44
9. Alemitu Abera – 2:23:14 (female)
10. Jonnatan Morales – 2:23:16

Alemitu Abera, also of Ethiopia, was the winning female with a time of 2:23:14. She finished 9th overall.  She won the women’s race by over five minutes.

More 2012 Houston Marathon Searchable Results

Today the 2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trails were held at the Chevron Houston Marathon down in Texas.  It was a very speedy and fast day as four Americans went under 2:10:00 for the first time ever during the same marathon.

American male Meb Keflezighi won the Houston Marathon with the fastest time of 2:09:08 which is a new personal record (PR) for Meb.

Ryan Hall finished in a close 2nd place at 2:09:30.

2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials Male Results

1. Meb Keflezighi – 2:09:08
2. Ryan Hall – 2:09:30
3. Abdi Abdirahman – 2:09:47
4. Dathan Ritzenhein – 2:09:55
5. Brett Gotcher – 2:11:06

It looks like it will be Meb, Ryan, Abdi representing the USA at the Olympics with Dathan as the 1st alternative.

Shalane Flanagan was the female winner as she held off Desiree Davila to finish with a time of 2:25:38.  Flanagan moves to 6-0 in the head-to-head matchup with Davila to date.

That means Flanagan, Davila, and Goucher will represent in the Olympics with Hastings as the alternate.

2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials Female Results

1. Shalane Flanagan – 2:25:38
2. Desiree Davila – 2:25:55
3. Kara Goucher – 2:26:06
4. Amy Hastings – 2:27:17
5. Janet Cherobon-Bawcom – 2:29:45
6. Deena Kastor – 2:30:40
7. Clara Grandt – 2:30:46
8. Alissa McKaig – 2:31:56
9. Dot McMahan – 2:32:16
10. Magdalena Lewy Boulet – 2:33:42

Congrats to all of the men and women who qualified for the 2012 London Olympics today. Way to Run It Fast!!!

[women finish line photo by Hideki Kino. Follow her on Twitter @RunKino]

Those of us that were lucky enough to survive the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon or Half Marathon (Full Story) earlier this month received an email from Competitor (company that puts the race on) today offering us $50 off the entry fee for Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona that takes place on January 15, 2011.

1. Offer was made via email today, Dec 13, for a race on January 15, 2012.  Very tough and short window for runners to plan and arrange travel/training.
2. $135 – $50 is still $85 to run Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona. Add in travel (gas, plane, rental car) and hotel and you are going to be down $500-$1,000 to run a race you didn’t want to run in the first place (or else you would have already signed up for it.)  $50 off is a small percentage of the cost it would actually take to run the race.
3. Almost all RNR LV runners that plan to run RNR AZ have already signed up and paid full price for it.
4. Offer was likely made knowing that very few could accept it.  That way Competitor can say, ‘Hey, we tried to make up for our mistakes at Las Vegas.”
5. Competitor/Rock ‘n’ Roll is not going to get the benefit of the doubt from anyone anymore.
6. Most runners I’ve talked to seem to agree. Insincere offer. Some deleted it immediately as they broke out the SMH!
7. Some believe it’s a way to fill a race that hasn’t sold out yet.
8. While some runners have sworn to me they will never run another RNR event even if it was free.
9. Runners by and large are whiners or running divas, but what went down in Vegas was absurd. After the merge, every runner’s safety and health was in peril unless you were an elite or at the head of the pack for either race.
10. The offer would have had legs if it had been for $50 off of any RNR race in 2012.

Competitor is right to offer something to try to smooth over what went down on December 4, 2011, but this offer is coming across to runners as an offer that most are unable to accept for a variety of reasons.

What happened that night in Vegas for sure didn’t stay in Vegas.  Competitor’s reputation, which was already mud among marathon veterans, is at an all-time low with almost all runners that were in Vegas.

40,000 runners ran that night. Those 40,000 runners have lots of running friends. Word of mouth is believable due to the heavy amount of complaints coming from an array of runners and stories on the news and in print.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Facebook page has been an endless ticker of negativity and hatred towards Competitor.

The CEO of Competitor, Peter Englehart, called me late last week and he did seem sincere in listening and wanting to find out everything that went wrong in Las Vegas so they could make changes for 2012.

I bet you can’t MERGE this offer with any other discount codes!!

Agree or disagree? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

How bad was Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas? Nightmare on the Strip: Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon Full of Sin

Dirty Rumors from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon

2011 Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & Half Marathon Medals

[photo of runners trapped inside the Mandalay Bay. via A Trail Runner’s Blog]

Mental Floss compiled a list of  11 Ways to Cheat While Running a Marathon.  Instead of teasing it as advice we’ll call them for what they are…CHEATERS!

Here is a look at that list:

10 Biggest Marathon Cheaters/Ways to Cheat a Marathon (Full Article on Mental Floss)

1. Do Not Run Most of It: Rosie Ruiz (Boston, 1980)
2. Get Someone Else to Run it for You: Xiamen Students (China, 2010)
3. Have Your Manager Give You a Ride: Fred Lorz (St. Louis, 1904)
4. Skip Miles 13-23: Anthony Gaskell (London, 2010)
5. Blow off the Checkpoints: Roberto Madrazo (Berlin, 2007)
6. Grab a Bus: Rob Sloan (Kielder, 2011)
7. Skip Ahead to the Part With the Prize Money: Martin Franklin (New York, 2001)
8. Hop on a Bicycle: The Montreal Biker (2011)
9. Hop in a News Van: Dane Patterson (Arizona, 2009)
10. (and 11.) Split the Course With Your Brother (and Use PEDs): The Motsoeneng Brothers (South Africa, 1999)

Read detailed descriptions of the atrocity each runner committed to cheat a marathon at Mental Floss (LINK)!

I’d add attaching your timing/computer chip/D(B) tag to another runner’s leg or shoe to the list above.

I think we will always think of Rosie Ruiz when it comes to marathon cheating even if the sport has a 100 more cheating scandals over the next 20 years.  She is like the gold standard when it comes to cheating a marathon.

Perhaps marathons across the country should all retire her bib number (W50), not out of a sign of respect, but as a reminder to how awful it is to cheat a marathon.

No, that is not Rosie and former President George W. Bush after the 1980 Boston Marathon. That is Rosie and the legit overall winner Bill Rodgers.

Pop Quiz: Who was the actual and legitimate female winner at the 1980 Boston Marathon?

The answer is Jacqueline Gareau with a time of 2:34:58.

Jackie also won the 1979 National Capital Marathon in Ottawa, Canada in 2:47:58 and the 1988 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota with a time of 2:43:27.

Here is the beautiful, colorful, yet simple finisher’s medal from the 35th Annual Rocket City Marathon that took place in Huntsville, Alabama on December 12, 2011.

The Rocket City Marathon is an extremely well run marathon that is put on by elite ultramarathoner Dink Taylor and his wife.

Timothy Agee ran it fast, finishing with a time of 3:18:44. Congrats to Tim on a new PR!!

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[Medal photo submitted by Timothy Agee. Follow him on Twitter @timagee]

Here is the colorful and festive finisher’s medal from the 2011 Holualoa Tucson Marathon that took place in Tucson, Arizona on December 11, 2011.

A great race and super fast place to try to set a PR.

MORE PHOTOS OF MARATHON/ULTRA MEDALS AND BUCKLES

[Medal photo submitted by Scott Stader. Follow him on Twitter @scottstader]

There has been a lot of filth to come out the the 2011 Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and 1/2 Marathon that took place this past Sunday night in Sin City.

A lot of it has been true while some other tidbits seem exaggerated, distorted, or simply false.

Here are a few of the more scandalous rumors that I’ve come across in the past couple of days:

1. “read the comments on the rnr page. Kate (Gosselin) didn’t run the race. She was on the sidelines and riding to the checkpoints on someones tomos scooter and at every checkpoint, the announcers gave platitudes to Kate and none of the other runners. Pissed many of the committed runners off.
   It was a paid appearance to garner support for a race and a charity that isn’t a 501c3 organization and like everything in Las Vegas, what happens there, stays there. Her bodyguard didn’t walk the entire course carrying a pink handbag. He was on a scooter pacing her for 3 miles and then picking her up and pacing the race to keep the shoe tag legit. When they came to a checkpoint at 500 feet, Kate jumped off as the crowd and contestants were too busy to notice. Kate made all the check points. She actually completed the marathon but she didn’t do it toe to heel. – Comment by Kim left on Reality TV Star Kate Gosselin Finishes RNR Las Vegas Marathon
2. Shenanigans by the Competitor CEO and his wife, in taking 1st Place AG for the Half! As exposed by journalist Don Pemberton – “calling Shenanigans on the CEO of Competitor Group and his wife. They ran the Las Vegas half marathon together, as a wedding couple, supposedly attended the run-thru-wedding chapel on the course, and somehow both managed to win their age divisions with a 6:31 avg pace. They wore each other’s bib numbers – technically you can be DQ’d for wearing someone elses number. They have NO split times for the 5k and 10k marks. AND – their bib numbers indicate that they should have started in the last corral. How did they manage to run a 1:25:16 half marathon, starting in the last corral thus having to weave thru all the walkers, and attend a wedding?!? SHENANIGANS!!!!!!!” – Marathon Maniac FB page
3. The bananas were green! 😉 – Stated by 578 running divas on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Facebook Page

The above are just rumors being floated out there and haven’t been verified except for #3.  Although, some have stated that bananas had turned yellow by the time the last of the half marathoners had reached them.

Everything else that we know went wrong and made this event sub-par can be found in this post: The Nightmare on the Strip: Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Full of Sin

Have another dirty rumor from the most scandalous marathon of 2011? If so then drop it in the comments.

The 2011 Death Valley Trail Marathon was technically cancelled by the race director due to 70 MPH winds up in the Titus Canyon. However, that didn’t stop a group of us from meeting and deciding to hold the marathon ourselves.  About 40-50 runners went over to the canyon there in Death Valley, braved the winds, and ran a memorable marathon that none of us will ever forget.

[Medal photos submitted by Joshua Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter @bayou]