Universal Sports to Broadcast Coverage of 2009 World Marathon Majors

Live TV and Exclusive Online Coverage Begins with the BAA Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20

LOS ANGELES – April 14, 2009 – Robert K. Cheruiyot hopes to become the first person to ‘four-peat’ at the BAA Boston Marathon and Kara Goucher is the American favorite to win the women’s race as Universal Sports presents TV and online coverage of the 2009 World Marathon Majors beginning April 20, with the historic Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon. The World Marathon Majors also include the Flora London Marathon, real Berlin Marathon, Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and will conclude with the ING New York City Marathon in November. 

The BAA Boston Marathon will host over 25,000 runners and will be shown live both online and on TV beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET.

In addition to broadcasting the World Marathon Majors, Universal Sports will also provide coverage of the Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Beijing Marathons, starting at the end of May.

COVERAGE ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports, available in 45 million homes, will present live and same-day coverage of the World Marathon Majors.

Date Events Time (all times ET)

APRIL 20, BAA BOSTON MARATHON (live), 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
APRIL 26, FLORA LONDON MARATHON, 9 AM – 12 PM
SEPT. 20, real BERLIN MARATHON, TBA

OCT. 11, BANK OF AMERICA CHICAGO MARATHON, TBA
NOV. 2, ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON, TBA

COVERAGE ON UNIVERSALSPORTS.COM: UniversalSports.com will provide exclusive, live coverage of the World Marathon Majors. More information, as well as highlights, full-length videos, photos, breaking news and more available at UniversalSports.com/marathon

Date Events Time (all times ET)

APRIL 20, BAA BOSTON MARATHON, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
APRIL 26, FLORA LONDON MARATHON, 4 AM – 7:10 AM
SEPT. 20, real BERLIN MARATHON, TBA
OCT. 11, BANK OF AMERICA CHICAGO MARATHON, TBA
NOV. 2, ING NEW YORK CITYMARATHON, TBA

WORLD MARATHON MAJORS ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports will be broadcasting coverage of the full World Marathon Majors season for the second year in a row, showing continued support for the sport of track and field. The World Marathon Majors first began in 2006 with an attempt to increase interest in running, raise awareness of marathon athletes, and advance the sport of marathon running.

The World Marathon Majors is made up of the top male and female marathon runners in the world who will split a $1 million dollar prize between them.  Collectively, there are over 5 million live spectators at the World Marathon Majors and 250 million television views.  Over 300,000 people apply to run in the marathon and approximately half as many participate. The World Marathon Majors also raise over $80 million for charity.

BAA BOSTON MARATHON: The BAA Boston Marathon is considered to be one of the most difficult in the World Marathon Majors series because of the numerous hills the course has, including ones toward the end of the race. The Boston marathon draws approximately 500,000 spectators every year.  Robert K. Cheruiyot, having won titles in 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2008, and setting the race record in 2006, looks to defend his title at the 2009 competition.

KARA GOUCHER: Coming off of a strong collegiate career, Goucher made her marathon debut in the 2008 New York City marathon, where she set the record for fastest time by a female American debut runner.  Goucher finished in third place with a time of 2:25:53, also marking this the first time that an American woman placed in the top three in the New York City Marathon in 14 years.

In 2007, Goucher made her half marathon debut and set a new American best time when she participated in the Great North Run Half Marathon and won.  That same year, she also ran in the IAAF World Outdoor Championships and became the first American ever to win a medal in the women’s 10,000 meters. This will be Goucher’s first time running the Boston Marathon.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming available on television and online. Universal Sports is a 24-hour television channel available in 45 million television households in markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Reno and Omaha. Major world championship and Olympic qualifying events found on Universal Sports range from track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons and cycling, to volleyball, rowing, triathlon, fencing, speed skating and martial arts. UniversalSports.com delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round. For more information on the availability of the Universal Sports 24-hour television channel, please visit UniversalSports.com

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For more information, please contact: 

Melisa Mowry

Universal Sports

240.396.1906

mmowry@wcsn.com