Running News

By Mary Foster NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ The 41st Mardi Gras Marathon will offer runners more than just the usual challenge on Sunday. It also will offer a unique chance to tour the damage hurricane Katrina did to the city. ``The first 14 miles they will be running through some of the flooded areas of the city,'' race director Bill Burke said. ``In fact from mile three through 12, we'll be putting up water marks to show how ...

By Krystyna Rudzki LONDON (AP) _ Five of the world's top marathons have combined to create a two-year series that will award $500,000 US to the men's and women's winners. Organizers of the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City marathons said Monday that the series _ called World Marathon Majors _ would increase the prestige and promotion of the 42.2-kilometre races. The Olympic and world championship marathons will also count in the series, which starts with the ...

BOSTON (AP) _ The Boston Marathon, which altered its start last year to give women their own send-off, will change it again in 2006 and release the rest of the field from Hopkinton in two, 10,000-runner waves. The elite male competitors _ and about 9,900 other men and women who don't qualify for the elite field _ will begin the race at noon, the traditional starting time for the world's ...