The BAA Boston Marathon, Flora London Marathon, real,- BERLIN-MARATHON, LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and the ING New York City Marathon have officially launched the World Marathon Majors (WMM) on Monday. They also presented the idea of a new series to promote the sport of marathon – the World Marathon Major Series (WMM Series) at press conferences held in Boston and London on 23rd January.

The world’s five premier international marathons—the Boston Marathon, the Flora London Marathon, the real,- Berlin-Marathon, the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, and the ING New York City Marathon—have joined forces to collectively present the top echelon in the sport of marathon running. These five events now present themselves as the World Marathon Majors® (WMM).

Starting in Kapalua under light rain and 21°C, the race went through Old Lahaina Town to a beach finish in clear and warm conditions. Chris Charles, from Seattle, ran alone to post a new course record of 1:09:06.

Simon Kasimili paced a large group to 24km, ensuring that many were still in contention in the later stages. Gradually it thinned out to a group of four before a pre-race favourite, Christopher Cheboiboch, dropped back as they ascended the main hill on the course at 35km.

Today the online registration for the 33rd real,- BERLIN-MARATHON 2006 has started. Preparations for the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON 2006 are already in full progress. As usual the 33rd edition of the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON will be staged on the final weekend of September (23rd and 24th).

A new national record was set by 21-year-old Chan Ka Ho with the time of 1:12:02. The championship has been held annually for 13 years, and now attracts more than 2,000 runners. There were four guest runners from Japan and Malaysia in this year's event.

The running year began in Berlin at noon on January 1, 2006 with the traditional New Year’s Day Run at the Brandenburg Gate. This non-competitive event has now become an institution that is an integral part of the sporting life of Berlin. It also demonstrates the unique Berlin situation, where what used to be an East Berlin race has now become a race for everyone together after the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989. Heinz Florian Oertel was the most famous sport reporter in East Germany. The now 78-year-old worked for decades for the Berliner Rundfunk radio station and for GDR television. Heinz Florian Oertel reported at the Olympic Games and numerous world championships. He made one legendary statement during his coverage of the Olympic marathon race in 1980 in Moscow: “Men, fathers—be courageous: Name your newborn sons Waldemar today.” For the second time in a row, Waldemar Cierpinski had won the Olympic marathon in Moscow in 1980, thus writing sporting history. Oertel was famous and popular due to his strong and stirring rhetoric.

Winner from the last two years, Habtemu Bekele of Ethiopia, found stiffer opposition in this 19th running of the race. At half-way, where runners were hampered by a strong easterly wind, Bekele shared the lead with six Kenyan runners and two Israelis, Ayale Sateng and Asaf Bimro, all of whom were timed at 1:08:22.

The running year began in Berlin at noon on January 1, 2006 with the traditional New Year’s Day Run at the Brandenburg Gate. This non-competitive event has now become an institution that is an integral part of the sporting life of Berlin. It also demonstrates the unique Berlin situation, where what used to be an East Berlin race has now become a race for everyone together after the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989.

On 2nd April the Vattenfall BERLIN HALF MARATHON will be the big international start to the new running season. So far there are more than 3,000 registrations for race which is the eighth biggest in the world at the 21.0975 k distance. This is slightly above than last year’s mark at this time. Among the 18,331 athletes from 69 nations in 2005 were runners, skaters, walkers, wheelchair athletes, handbikers, the participants of the Fun-Run as well as the kids of the Bambini Race.