Half marathon

A half marathon is a road running event of 21.0975 kilometres (13.1094 mi). It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a marathon does. In 2008, Running USA reported that the half marathon is the fastest growing type of race. A 2010 article by Universal Sports echoed the growing popularity of the distance. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcuts. The half marathon is also known as a 21K, 21.1K or 13.1 miles, although these values are rounded and not formally correct.

World record progression

World records in the half marathon are ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.

The official IAAF world record for men is 58:23, set by Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea on March 21, 2010 at the Lisbon half marathon in Portugal, and for women is 1:05:09, set by Florence Kiplagat of Kenya on February 15, 2015, in Barcelona, Spain.

Drift Allstars

Drift Allstars is a live action motorsports brand dedicated to car drifting. It is being developed on multiple levels and is growing rapidly.

Drift Allstars Championship – is a professional drifting series that on average 50 drivers and teams, from at least 16 nations compete in a 10 stop Grand Prix series driving powerful and modified saloon cars. It is backed and driven by Extreme and Alistair Gosling and his professional management team.

The 2014 Championship kicked off at the Olympic Park, London in May and finished in Athens, Greece in September. Video clip from London

For 2015 and beyond the new management team are working with new promoters around the world to bring the Drift Allstars brand to arenas, tracks, stadiums and city centers and have added music to the line-up with both bands and DJs being part of the offer.

Media Coverage

Based on the public interest social media is being used extensively to grow the brand and championship. The Facebook fan base is 1.44 million liking the brand, up from 171,000 in 2014.

CrossFit Games

The CrossFit Games is an athletic competition sponsored by Crossfit Inc. The competition has been held every summer since 2007. Athletes at the Games compete in workouts they learn about only hours beforehand, mostly comprising an assortment of standard aerobic, weightlifting, and gymnastics movements, as well as surprise elements that are not part of the typical CrossFit regimen such as an ocean swim, a short triathlon, or a softball throw. The Games are styled as a venue for determining the "Fittest on Earth," where competitors should be "ready for anything."

History

In 2011, the Games adopted an online format for the first stage of the qualification process, called the "CrossFit Open", to facilitate participation by athletes worldwide. Prior to the introduction of the Open, the preponderance of competitors were American (though the 2009 individual men's champion, Mikko Salo, is from Finland, and the 2010 women's runner-up, Annie Thorisdottir, is from Iceland). During the Open, a new workout is released each week on Thursday night and athletes have until Monday evening (Pacific Time) to complete the workout and submit their scores online, with either a video or validation by a CrossFit affiliate. Beginning in 2013, CrossFit began airing live announcements for the Open workouts and would have past CrossFit Games athletes immediately complete the workout in a head-to-head competition. The top CrossFit Open performers in each region advance to the regional events, held over the following two months; the top performers from these regional competitions go to the CrossFit Games, which in recent years have been held at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA.

Julie Foucher

Julie Foucher (born December 26, 1988) is an American CrossFit athlete and medical student. She has competed in the CrossFit Games four times, and has historically been one of the most successful women in the sport. Across her four Games appearances, Foucher has never finished outside the top 5. She has twice finished on the podium, earning 2nd in 2012 and 3rd in 2014. Foucher was a favorite in 2015, but was not able to compete after tearing her Achilles tendon during the season's second qualifying stage.

Foucher works on the CrossFit Level 1 Seminar Staff, while she attends the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University Class of 2016.

CrossFit career

Foucher came to CrossFit Ann Arbor / HyperFit USA in the summer of 2009 with a background in high school gymnastics and track and field. At the time, she was pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan and preparing to apply to medical school.

Within a year of starting CrossFit training under the tutelage of coach Doug Chapman, Foucher qualified for the 2010 CrossFit Games with a second place finish at the 2010 Central East Regional. During her Games debut, Julie Foucher had stand-out performances on "Amanda" (5th place in 8:06 consisting of 9-7-5 repetitions of muscle-ups and 95-lb. snatches) – and the Max Shoulder-to-Overhead (185-lb., 3rd). She would go on to earn 5th overall.