Universal Sports Presents LIVE Broadcast and Online Coverage of the 2011 Boston Marathon

 

Coverage of 115^th Annual Race Begins Monday, April 18 at 9:30 am ET

 

Olympic Gold Medalist and Two-Time Boston Marathon Winner Joan Samuelson Returns to Qualify For 2012 Summer Games 

 

Los Angeles, CA --April 14, 2011--Universal Sports presents LIVE multi-platform coverage of the historic 2011 Boston Marathon. The network’s nationwide coverage will begin on Monday, April 18 at 9:30 a.m. ET. The 115^th annual race will feature over 26,000 entrants from 67 different countries and all 50 states. Runners are competing for the prestigious title of champion of the Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest marathon, as well as a first place prize of $150,000 for both the men’s and women’s winners. The commentators for the race will include Boston Marathon veterans Al Trautwig (play-by-play) and Larry Rawson (analyst).

 

As part of the multi-platform coverage, the network’s website, www.universalsports.com, will provide LIVE race coverage, full on-demand replays and highlights of the event on a subscription basis, as well as news updates. Also, the Universal Sports Facebook and Twitter platforms will have live interactive updates throughout the race.

 

The 2011 men’s competition should be a formidable one as 2010 champion Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot sets out to defend his title. American Ryan Hall, who set a U.S. course record at the 2010 Boston Marathon with a finish of 2:08:41, will try to become the first American champion at the Boston Marathon since Greg Meyer in 1983. Other top racers include 2010 ING New York City Marathon champion Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia and Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai, who boasts the fastest marathon time in the field at 2:04:55.

 

On the women’s side, this year’s field is one of the deepest and fastest in years. Defending champion Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia returns with a repeat on her mind. Dire Tune of Ethiopia, the 2008 winner and 2009 runner-up, and “Queen Catherine” Ndereba, of Kenya, the only woman to win Boston four times, will both be on the starting line.

 

Kara Goucher and Desiree Davila will be the top American runners competing in the woman’s elite field. Goucher, the third-place finisher in 2009, will return to action for the first time since giving birth to a son last year. Davila who took 4th in Chicago in October, only finished one step behind Goucher at Worlds in ’09.

 

Making her return to the Boston Marathon for the first time since 1993 is Olympic Gold medalist and two-time Boston Marathon champion Joan Samuelson. The 53-year-old Maine native, who ran 2:47 at her last marathon, will strive to achieve an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:46. 

 

As a prelude to Monday’s race, Universal Sports will re-air the 2009 and 2010 Boston Marathons in primetime throughout this weekend. Following the live airing, Universal Sports will offer an encore presentation of the marathon at 6:00 p.m. ET. The network will continue its world-class marathon coverage in November with the live airing of the ING New York City Marathon.

 

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SPORTS:

Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, LP, is the premier multi-platform media destination for Olympic-related sports programming in the United States.  Universal Sports is available in 52 markets nationwide, including all of the nation’s top 10 media markets and 20 of the top 25.  Major world championship sports events aired on Universal Sports include track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons, figure skating, cycling and rugby.  The network’s website, UniversalSports.com, delivers an immersive user experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through interviews and blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year-round.  For more information, please visit UniversalSports.com.