Runners from more than 75 countries took to the streets of their cities, towns and suburbs on May 1-2 to take part in the inaugural AbbottWMM Global Marathon.
‘Runners aged 20 to 87 from Singapore to Switzerland, the Philippines to Peru, Hong Kong to Honduras donned their race bib, laced up their shoes and completed their 26.2 miles. Groups of friends, husbands and wives, grandmothers supported by grandchildren on bikes, all set their own courses, aid stations and finish lines.’
The success of the 1,100 finishers filled the social media feeds of the runners with AbbottWMM Global Marathon content garnering more than half a million impressions on AbbottWMM channels across the two days. According to the organisers, this showe the ‘true power of marathon running to engage and inspire.’
With the added incentive of 100 invites to the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships 2022 on offer, the level of competition amongst those aged 40 and above produced some impressive performances.
The first Wheelchair Global Marathon also took place this weekend with Marcel Hug of Switzerland taking the men’s honours with a time of 1:29:29, and Margriet Van den broek of the Netherlands topping the women’s podium in 2:02:11.
Executive Director of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, Tim Hadzima said “It was really amazing to see runners from all over the world make their own finish lines and be able to celebrate their achievement with their families and friends in lots of creative ways.”
‘The Global Run Club was created in August last year to provide a global community for marathon runners on a virtual platform to stay motivated and connect with other runners. The engagement in the club’s monthly challenges and races shows the spirit and enthusiasm of runners around to the world to connect, compete and train alongside runners of all ages and abilities across the continents.’
The Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM) is a series of six of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world – Tokyo Marathon, B.A.A. Boston Marathon, Virgin Money London Marathon, BMW BERLIN-MARATHON, Bank of America Chicago Marathon and TCS New York City Marathon.
The AbbottWMM Six Star System is an online results hub that celebrates every runner who has completed from one to six of the races in the series and encourages them to ‘Reach for the Stars’.
The AbbottWMM launched the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Rankings in 2018 and the first AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championship race is set to take place on October 3rd, 2021 (postponed due to COVID-19) as part of the Virgin Money London Marathon.
The AbbottWMM Global Run Club launched in August 2020, and aims to bring together the global community of marathon runners on a virtual platform. It kicked off with a series of autumn challenges to run alongside the virtual offerings of the Majors and held its first Global Marathon in May 2021.
www.Abbottwmm.com
www.Abbottwmmglobalrunclub.com
