(Photo: VCM / Manuel Platzer. Getu Feleke running in Vienna in 2009.) Course record holder Henry Sugut will face an even tougher task when he will try to win the Vienna City Marathon for an unprecedented fourth time on 13th April. The Kenyan will face a runner from Ethiopia who has been more than two minutes faster than Sugut’s PB of 2:06:58, which is also the course record. Organisers confirmed today that Getu Feleke was added to the start list. With a personal best of 2:04:50 the 27 year-old is the fastest runner ever entered for the race. The 31st Vienna City Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Feleke has a special connection to the Vienna City Marathon. It was here where he competed in his first race outside Ethiopia. In 2009 the organisers staged a unique debutants’ only marathon and Feleke was among the athletes invited. He finished seventh five years ago with a time of 2:11:47. “I have very good memories of the Vienna City Marathon. The city and the atmosphere were both impressive. I will never forget my first race outside Ethiopia,” said Feleke, who is looking forward to return to the place where his international career began.

The B.A.A. (Boston Athletic Association)  launches the Boston Marathon World Run app that virtually connects runners around the world and their social networks with the 2014 Boston Marathon. The mobile app, available on Apple and Android, and website allows runners to participate in the athletic spirit of the event regardless of ability or geography.

Participants, whether individually or in teams, will be logging miles alongside past champions and elite athletes and can achieve their self-determined running goals by April 21 to receive bib numbers and digital training and finisher badges.  Boston Marathon World Run encourages runners to contribute to One Fund Boston through voluntary online contributions, which will be updated in real time.

Henry Sugut hopes to achieve an unprecedented fourth victory when he returns for the Vienna City Marathon on 13th April. The Kenyan won the biggest spring road race in German speaking territory in 2010, 2012 and 2013. But Sugut will not face an easy task when going for a hattrick in Vienna. Among his challengers are five runners with personal bests of sub 2:08. The Vienna City Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race. Adding other running events staged parallel to the marathon organisers registered more than 41,000 entries for the 31st edition of the race.

“Vienna is my city. I am always doing well here. Whenever I come to Vienna my self confidence is high,” said Henry Sugut. Indeed there is no other place where he has been as successful as in Vienna. Three of his four fastest marathons he ran here. His 2:06:58 winning time of 2012 still stands as his personal best and as the course record as well. The 28 year-old will hope to continue this success in the Austrian capital on 13th April. Regarding a possible unique fourth victory he said: “That would be great if I could achieve that.”

More new highs for U.S. marathons with 541,000 finishers and more than 1,100 races; ING New York City Marathon returns to the top in 2013 - SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - (March 23, 2014) - With the spring marathon season opening, it is time for Running USA's annual Marathon Report. Despite several cancellations due to weather and the Boston Marathon terror attack, 2013 was another record year for the classic distance with more than 1,100 marathons run across the country generating 541,000 finishers with a breakdown of 57% men and 43% women (a new high).

Last year, we reported that the estimated number of U.S. marathon finishers had declined from a record high 518,000 finishers in 2011 to 487,000 in 2012 (a 6% decrease), but like 2001, most of the decline was attributed to a unique situation; in 2001, it was post-9/11 travel impacting fall marathons, and in 2012, the ING New York City Marathon, the world's largest 26.2 mile race with 47,000-plus finishers, was cancelled due to the destruction of Hurricane Sandy. If the NYC Marathon had been held in 2012, there is no doubt that the 2012 overall marathon finisher total would have exceeded the 2011 record of 518,000 marathon finishers.