to move up and down
A U.N aid agency canceled the Gaza marathon on Tuesday after the Palestinian territory’s militant Hamas rulers banned women from participating in the annual sporting event.
UNWRA, which assists Palestinian refugees and also sponsors and organizes the event, announced that plans for the race next month have been scrapped because of the Hamas demand that women be barred.
“We regret this decision to cancel the marathon but we don’t want men and women running together,” Abdessalam Siyyam, a Hamas government official, told Agence France-Presse.
“We did not tell Unrwa to cancel the marathon and we haven’t prevented it, but we laid down some conditions: We don’t want women and men mixing in the same place.” (Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
![Read this e-book and soon you’ll be pushing tires around the gym.
npostlife:
The National Post’s resident strong man (and official Marathon Man, with new columns on running and fitness every Monday) has written his first ebook, a compilation of knowledge and wisdom gleaned from years in the sport, designed to help you get a headstart on your goals this winter. It’s available on all the popular platforms, from Kindle to Kobo to iTunes, so check it out before you slap on those tights for another brisk run!!
[Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/4444bc576d29fb8e05fee1403441cf2c/tumblr_mg2cwb2Egj1s0oiwfo1_500.jpg)
Read this e-book and soon you’ll be pushing tires around the gym.
The National Post’s resident strong man (and official Marathon Man, with new columns on running and fitness every Monday) has written his first ebook, a compilation of knowledge and wisdom gleaned from years in the sport, designed to help you get a headstart on your goals this winter. It’s available on all the popular platforms, from Kindle to Kobo to iTunes, so check it out before you slap on those tights for another brisk run!!
[Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post]
Did officials wait too long to cancel the New York City marathon?: Many of the runners who had descended on the city from all over the globe worked out their frustrations with a jog Saturday through Central Park, site of a finish line that will never be crossed. Some scrambled to rebook return flights. Others made sightseeing plans for the unexpected free time.
Whether from Europe, South America or elsewhere, their sentiment was the same. Sympathy for the victims of Superstorm Sandy. Understanding of why city officials cancelled Sunday’s race. But bitterness that the decision was made Friday instead of earlier in the week, before they boarded planes. (Photos: Seth Wenig/The Associated Press, Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
Inspiring or inappropriate? New Yorkers and runners from around the world debated whether a marathon should be run with disaster for a backdrop.
The New York City Marathon is on Sunday, with many logistical questions to be answered.
“To us the marathon really epitomizes the spirit of New York City, the vitality, the tenacity, the determination of New Yorkers,” New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said on Wednesday, shortly before Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed the race was on. “Now our every effort is to once again tell the world that New York City, as the mayor would say, is open for business, and we welcome the support of the world at this trying time.”
Seeing double: Runners participate in the 2012 Nairobi Marathon in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Noor Khamis/Reuters)
Fall marathon season: 42.2 ways to get ready for your big race
It takes a lot of different factors coming together for a race of any distance to go perfectly, but by adopting a few of the following suggestions, you can probably make your outing wearing a bib running through city streets a bit more comfortable, and maybe even improve your time, too.
Ottawa-born Joshua Cassidy was the surprise winner Monday of the men’s wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon.
Cassidy, 27, added to the emotional victory by setting a world and course record time of time one hour, 18 minutes 25 seconds for the 42.195-kilometre distance.
A freelance illustrator, Cassidy led from the five-kilometre mark. When the former Ottawa Marathon champion reached the top of the course’s Heartbreak Hill (32 kilometres), he started to focus on breaking the records.
“Once I got to the top of Heartbreak, I knew I could win the race,” said Cassidy, who got his start in Paralympic wheelchair racing with Bob Schrader and Amanda Fader at the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club.
