Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon

Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon
Date	Late February
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana United States
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon and half marathon
Established	1965
Official site	Rock n Roll Mardi Gras Marathon

At the starting line for the 2010 Mardi Gras Marathon

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon is an annual international marathon race which takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States. It is part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series of road running competitions and it also features the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon.

The event, held since 1965 (but not in 1968), was taken over by Competitor Group for the 2010 edition and adopted the Rock 'n' Roll Series name after its takeover.^[1] For the first edition, the marathon was run as an open class or mass race while the half marathon formed the elite section of the event. The elite competition started strongly, with Martin Lel beating Samuel Wanjiru in the men's section while Berhane Adere and Kim Smith ran the fastest and third-fastest times ever on American soil, for first and second place respectively.^[2] A total of around 13,000 runners participated in the day's events.^[1] Kim Smith returned in 2011 to set a 19-second personal best of 1:07:36, a new U.S. all-comer's record for the women's half marathon.^[3]

Past winners

Martin Lel beat Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru to win the first half marathon race.

Marathon

Key:       Course record

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Women's winner	Time (h:m:s)
45th	2010[4]	Paul Wachira (KEN)	2:22:31	Karen Barlow (AUS)	2:46.06
46th	2011[5]	Fred Joslyn (USA)	2:18.49	Joasia Zakrzewski (SCO)	2:47.25

Half marathon

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Women's winner	Time (h:m:s)
45th	2010	Martin Lel (KEN)	1:01:07	Berhane Adere (ETH)	1:07:52
46th	2011	Josphat Boit (KEN)	1:03:57	Kim Smith (NZL)	1:07:36

NOTE: 45th refers to the 45th Mardi Gras Marathon overall; Competitor Group began organising the race in 2010.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Fitzgerald, Matt (2010-02-28). Lel, Adere Win Inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon. Competitor Group. Retrieved on 2010-03-02.
2. ^ Cruz, Dan (2010-03-01). Adere clocks 1:07:52, Lel beats Wanjiru at New Orleans Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-02.
3. ^ Kim Smith Runs Fastest Half Marathon On U.S. Soil. Competitor Group. Retrieved on 2011-02-14.
4. ^ Astleford, Andrew (2010-03-01). Kenyan Paul Wachira, Australian Karen Barlow win Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon. New Orleans Running. Retrieved on 2010-03-01.
5. ^ Fred Joslyn, Joasia Zakrzewski won the Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon. NOLA.com. Retrieved on 2011-02-14.

External links

• Official website