Deriba Merga, Salina Kosgei win Boston Marathon to move into top three in World Marathon Majors 2008-09 leaderboard

BOSTON, April 20, 2009 — Deriba Merga of Ethiopia and Salina Kosgei of Kenya both notched breakthrough victories at the 113th running of the Boston Marathon today to vault into contention in the 2008-09 World Marathon Majors (WMM) series.

Merga, who also finished fourth in the Olympic Games Marathon in August, defeated Kenyan Daniel Rono by almost a minute to jump into second place in the 2008-09 WMM leaderboard. Kosgei’s thrilling sprint victory over defending champion Dire Tune of Ethiopia added to the points she earned from a fourth-place finish in last year’s Flora London Marathon to move her in a three-way tie in third place.

Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya and Irina Mikitenko of Germany will look to hold onto their first-place standing when they are scheduled to run in this week’s Flora London Marathon on Sunday, April 26, the second of six races in the series. At the conclusion of the two-year series this fall, the male and female point leaders will each be awarded $500,000.

On the men’s side, Wanjiru remains atop the standings with 40 points, while Merga moves within 10 points of first-place with 30 overall. Martin Lel of Kenya drops to third place with 26 points. On the women’s side, Tune moves within 10 points of first-place Mikitenko in the series. Mikitenko remains at 50 points, while Tune has 40 overall. Three women are tied for third at 30 points, including Kosgei, Russia’s Alevtina Biktimirova, and Constantina Dita of Romania.

The top five men’s and women’s finishers from today’s Boston Marathon will be included in the 2008-08 WMM leaderboard, in addition to opening the 2009-10 WMM series.

2008-09 WORLD MARATHON MAJORS LEADERBOARD

MEN
1. Sammy Wanjiru (KEN), 40 pts.
2. Deriba Merga (ETH), 30 pts.
3. Martin Lel (KEN), 26 pts.
4. Abderrahim Goumri (MAR), 25 pts.
4. Marilson Gomes dos Santos (BRA), 25 pts.
4. Evans Cheruiyot (KEN), 25 pts.
4. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH), 25 pts.
4. Robert K. Cheruiyot (KEN), 25 pts.
4. Daniel Rono (KEN), 25 pts.
10. Abderrahime Bouramdane (MAR), 16 pts.
11. Tekeste Kebede (ETH), 15 pts.
11. James Kwambai (KEN), 15 pts.
11. Jaouad Gharib (MAR), 15 pts.
11. David Mandago Kipkorir (KEN), 15 pts.
15. Ryan Hall (USA), 11 pts.
16. Timothy Cherigat (KEN), 10 pts.
16. Charles Kamathi (KEN), 10 pts.
16. Khalid el Boumlili (MAR), 10 pts.
19. Emmanuel Mutai (KEN), 6 pts.
20. Gashaw Melese Asfaw (ETH), 5 pts.
21. Martin Lauret (NLD), 5 pts.
21. Mariko Kipchumba (KEN), 5 pts.
21. Paul Tergat (KEN), 5 pts.
24. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (KEN), 1 pt.
24. Mesefin Adimasu (ETH), 1 pt.
24. Kasime Adillo (ETH), 1 pt.

WOMEN
1. Irina Mikitenko (DEU), 50 pts.
2. Dire Tune (ETH), 40 pts.
3. Salina Kosgei (KEN), 30 pts.
3. Alevtina Biktimirova (RUS), 30 pts.
3. Constantina Dita (ROU), 30 pts.
6. Lidiya Grigoryeva (RUS), 25 pts.
6. Paula Radcliffe (GBR), 25 pts.
8. Kara Goucher (USA), 20 pts.
9. Catherine Ndereba (KEN), 16 pts.
9. Askale Tafa Magarsa (ETH), 16 pts.
9. Ludmila Petrova (RUS), 16 pts.
12. Svetlana Zakharova (RUS), 15 pts.
12. Rita Jeptoo (KEN), 15 pts.
14. Helena Kiprop (KEN), 11 pts.
15. Chunxiu Zhou (CHN), 10 pts.
15. Gete Wami (ETH), 10 pts.
15. Kiyoko Shimahara (JPN), 10 pts.
18. Bezunesh Bekele (ETH), 5 pts.
18. Rose Cheruiyot (KEN), 5 pts.
18. Xiaolin Zhu (CHN), 5 pts.
18. Jelena Prokopcuka (LVA), 5 pts.
22. Desiree Davila (USA), 1 pt.
22. Gulnara Vigovskaya (RUS), 1 pt.
22. Martha Komu (KEN), 1 pt.

2009-10 WORLD MARATHON MAJORS LEADERBOARD

MEN
1. Deriba Merga (ETH), 25 pts.
2. Daniel Rono (KEN), 15 pts.
3. Ryan Hall (USA), 10 pts.
4. Tekeste Kebede (ETH), 5 pts.
5. Robert K. Cheruiyot (KEN), 1 pt.

WOMEN
1. Salina Kosgei (KEN), 25 pts.
2. Dire Tune (ETH), 15 pts.
3. Kara Goucher (USA), 10 pts.
4. Bezunesh Bekele (ETH), 5 pts.
5. Helena Kirop (KEN), 1 pt.

WMM series points are collected for top five finishes with 25 points for first, 15 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth and 1 for fifth. The WMM series features a $1 million purse with $500,000 for the men’s and women’s champions.

This year’s WMM series will continue next weekend at the Flora London Marathon on April 26, followed by the IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Berlin in August. The fall season will kick off at the real- BERLIN-MARATHON on September 20, followed by the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11, and the series finale at the ING New York City Marathon on November 1.