Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon

The "Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Running Series' is a half marathon held annually in Arizona on the Sunday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day that links three cities of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area: Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. Until 2023, a full marathon distance race was offered whose time could be used to obtain a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. The race weekend also includes a 10K run, and a 5K run.

Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
Prerace ceremony in 2015
DateJanuary
LocationPhoenixTempeScottsdale, Arizona
Event typeRoad
Distancehalf marathon, 10k and 5k
Established2004 (20 years ago) (2004)
Course recordsM: 2:10:33 (2004)
Kenya Haron Toroitich
F: 2:30:39 (2010)
Ethiopia Teyba Naser
Official siteRock 'n' Roll Running Series - Arizona
Finisher medal in 2008

The competition attracts tens of thousands of runners each year; more than 32,000 competed in 2010. The prize money for winning either the men's or the women's marathon race was US$1,000.[1]

Like the original Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego, it is organized by the IRONMAN Group, part of Wanda Sports Holdings. It was sponsored until 2015 by P. F. Chang's China Bistro.


History

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The race was first held on January 11, 2004, with 9,882 marathon finishers and 13,926 half marathon finishers in the inaugural event.[2]

The 2021 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[3]

World record

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The event is noted for the half-marathon world record set by Haile Gebrselassie on January 15, 2006, who ran the second half of the marathon course in 58 minutes and 55 seconds. This part of the marathon course is slightly downhill, but is still within IAAF requirements for world record status. Gebrselassie's record stood for a year, until it was lowered by two seconds on February 9, 2007 by Samuel Wanjiru at Ras al-Khaimah.

Course

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Haile Gebrselassie set a half marathon world record on the second half of the marathon course in 2006.

In prior years, both race courses started in Phoenix, however, in 2012 the courses were split. The start of the marathon is located in downtown Phoenix near the CityScape Plaza. The half marathon and newly added 10k start in Tempe. All races finish in the city of Tempe at the Tempe Beach Park. The event also includes wheelchair races starting 10 minutes and 5 minutes before the marathon and half-marathon races. The average start line temperature is around 40 °F (4 °C), and the average daily high temperature is between 50 °F and 70 °F (10 °C-21 °C).[4]

Along the route are over 40 high school cheerleading teams and 70 bands who perform for the runners.[4] Later in the evening there is a concert held in Tempe for all the runners, volunteers and spectators.

Race records

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Simon Bairu set a new men's race record for the half marathon, on January 17, 2010, with a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 47 seconds which was well under the previous race record of 1 hour, 4 minutes, 35 seconds set by the late Ryan Shay in 2004.[5]

Deena Kastor set a new women's race record for the half marathon, also on January 17, 2010, with a time of 1 hour, 9 minutes, 43 seconds which also broke the state record.[5]

Winners

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Key:    Course record (in bold)

Marathon

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Ed. Year Men's winner Time Women's winner Time Rf.
1 2004   Haron Toroitich (KEN) 2:10:33   Shitaye Gemechu (ETH) 2:31:33 [6]
2 2005   Terefe Yae (ETH) 2:14:24   Zekiros Adanech (ETH) 2:31:14
3 2006   Mola Shimelis (ETH) 2:13:08   Shitaye Gemechu (ETH) 2:31:44
4 2007   Terefe Yae (ETH) 2:14:13   Zekiros Adanech (ETH) 2:31:43
5 2008   Mike Aish (NZL) 2:13:21   Zekiros Adanech (ETH) 2:31:15
6 2009   Moses Kigen (KEN) 2:10:36   Olena Shurkhno (UKR) 2:31:22
7 2010   Terefe Yae (ETH) 2:12:41   Teyba Naser (ETH) 2:30:39
8 2011   Josh Cox (USA) 2:17:32   Sally Meyerhoff (USA) 2:37:56
9 2012   Peter Omae (KEN) 2:24:47   Trisha Miller (USA) 2:49:12
10 2013   Ryan Neely (USA) 2:31:07   Christy Foster (USA) 2:44:42
11 2014   Solomon Kandie (KEN) 2:21:00   Amy Cole (USA) 2:49:26
12 2015   Roosevelt Cook (USA) 2:24:41   Zoila Gómez (USA) 2:46:00
13 2016   Thomas Puzey (USA) 2:25:22   Tanaya Gallagher (USA) 2:46:44
14 2017   Thomas Puzey (USA) 2:19:57   Bailey Drewes (USA) 2:42:50
2021 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic [3]

Half marathon

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Ed. Year Men's winner Time Women's winner Time Rf.
1 2004   Ryan Shay (USA) 1:04:35   Erica Larson (USA) 1:17:51
2 2005   Thomas Lentz (USA) 1:10:53   Miho Ichikawa (JPN) 1:15:07
3 2006   Joe Munoz (USA) 1:09:47   Heather Hanston (USA) 1:16:38
4 2007   Mårten Boström (FIN) 1:06:33   Liz Wilson (USA) 1:18:34
5 2008   Austin Baillie (USA) 1:07:12   Bridget Duffy (USA) 1:21:46
6 2009   Kristopher Houghton (USA) 1:08:22   Nicky Archer (GBR) 1:20:23
7 2010   Simon Bairu (CAN) 1:02:47   Deena Kastor (USA) 1:09:43
8 2011   Shawn Forrest (AUS) 1:03:07   Madaí Pérez (MEX) 1:11:49
9 2012   Dylan Wykes (CAN) 1:02:38   Sara Slattery (USA) 1:16:24
10 2013   Scott MacPherson (USA) 1:05:25   Stephanie Bruce (USA) 1:15:18
11 2014   Rob Watson (CAN) 1:05:03   Jessica Draskau-Petersson (DEN) 1:13:47
12 2015   Benson Cheruiyot (KEN) 1:04:15   Amy Hastings (USA) 1:12:04
13 2016   Scott Bauhs (USA) 1:02:23   Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (USA) 1:11:49
14 2017   Jeffrey Eggleston (USA) 1:04:50   Neely Gracey (USA) 1:12:39
2021 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic [3]

Wheelchair race

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Date Male winner Representing Time Female winner Representing Time Rf.
2009.01.18
2008.01.13 Tyler Byers   Sterling, VA, USA 1:45:07
2007.01.14 Tyler Byers   Reston, VA, USA 1:57:28
2006.01.15 Bradley Ray   Albuquerque, NM, USA 2:18:30
2005.01.09 Peter Hawkins   Malverne, NY, USA 2:22:03
2004.01.11 Peter Hawkins   Malverne, NY, USA 2:09:14 Tricia Downing   Denver, CO, USA 2:55:45

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cruz, Dan (2010-01-18). Kastor back with sub-1:10 in Phoenix. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-01-18.
  2. ^ "P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona - Race Results". rnraz.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "2021 Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Marathon canceled because of COVID-19". Archived from the original on 2020-11-22.
  4. ^ a b "Race Information". www.rnraz.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  5. ^ a b "Records fall in P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon". AZ Central.
  6. ^ "Runner's Web and Triathlete's Web, a Running, Track and Field and Tri…". Archived from the original on 22 November 2020.
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