Haile Gebrselassie receives the AIMS/CITIZEN WORLD’S FASTEST TIME AWARD for the Marathon

The outstanding Ethiopian athlete Haile Gebrselassie, on Friday 23/11/07 was presented with the AIMS/Citizen World’s Fastest Time Award, at the Great Ethiopian pre-race press conference at the Sheraton Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for his World Record performance at this year’s Berlin Marathon (30/09/07) of 2hrs:04mins:26secs.

This time is officially recognised as the fastest time recorded by a man over the marathon distance, by The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) which represents over 230 major road running events in over 80 countries and the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations).

Haile received the AIMS/CITIZEN WORLD’S FASTEST TIME AWARD from Mary Wittenberg of the New York City Marathon.

AIMS President Hiroaki Chosa comments: “It is with pleasure we recognise the considerable achievements of Haile Gebrselassie. Ethiopia is a country greatly respected throughout the rest of the World for producing some of the finest athletes the world has ever seen. Haile is now officially the fastest man in the World over the marathon distance.”

Haile Gebrselassie remarked, “This is really wonderful. I want to say thank you to AIMS and the IAAF.Thank you also to Citizen for giving me this award from my race in Berlin. I am so happy to receive this award."

AIMS proposed the World Record criteria, that the IAAF has adopted, which is:

Road World Records will be accepted by the IAAF for the following distances:

 

            10km;  15km;  20km;  Half Marathon;  25km;  30km;  Marathon (42.195km);

            100km;  Road Relay (Marathon distance only)

The following conditions must be met:

 a)         The event must be sanctioned either by the IAAF and/or the National Federation and conducted under IAAF Rules.

 b)         The athlete achieving the IAAF Road World Record must be eligible to compete under IAAF Rules.

 c)         The course must be measured by an “A” or “B” IAAF/AIMS approved measurer as defined in IAAF Rule 240.3.

 d)         The start and finish points on a course, measured along a straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.

 e)         The decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand, i.e. 1m per km.

 f)         Either the course measurer that certified the course or another “A” or “B” measurer in possession of the complete measurement data and maps must validate that the course measured was the course run by riding in the lead vehicle.

 g)         The course must be verified on site (i.e. within two weeks before, on the day of the race or as soon as practical after the race), preferably by a different IAAF/AIMS “A” or “B” measurer from the one that did the original measurement.

 h)         The athlete must undergo a doping control on the date of the race.

 i)         For the Road Relay, the race should be run in stages of 5km, 10km, 5km, 10km, 5km, 7.195km.

Road World Records set at intermediate distances within a race must comply with the above conditions and be timed according to IAAF Rules.  The intermediate distances must have been measured and marked during the course measurement.