The Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon is an annual international marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 race which takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series

The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series is a collection of road running events owned and operated by Competitor Group, Inc. The series is known for lining race routes with live bands, cheerleaders and themed water stations.-Events:...

 of road running

Road running

Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...

 competitions and it also features the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon.

The event, held since 1965 (but not in 1968), was taken over by Competitor Group

Competitor Group, Inc.

Competitor Group, Inc. is a privately held, for-profit, sports marketing and management company based in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California. The company owns and operates over 40 national running, cycling, and triathlon events; of which includes the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series...

 for the 2010 edition and adopted the Rock 'n' Roll Series name after its takeover. For the first edition, the marathon was run as an open class

Open Class (Track and Field)

Open Class is a Track and Field event classification defined by USA Track & Field. The classification is defined as:* having no maximum age limit...

 or mass race while the half marathon

Half marathon

A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...

 formed the elite section of the event. The elite competition started strongly, with Martin Lel

Martin Lel

Martin Kiptolo Lel is a Kenyan long distance and marathon runner. He won the London Marathon in 2005, 2007, and 2008, the New York City Marathon in 2003 and 2007 and the Great North Run in 2007 and 2009. His personal best time, , is 2:05:15, which he ran in the 2008 London Marathon setting a...

 beating Samuel Wanjiru

Samuel Wanjiru

Samuel Kamau Wanjiru was a Kenyan athlete, who specialized in long distance running. He became a professional at a young age and broke the world record in the half marathon when he was 18 years old...

 in the men's section while Berhane Adere

Berhane Adere

Berhane Adere is an athlete from Ethiopia.Adere held the African record for 10,000 metres in a time of 30:04.18, set at the 2003 World Championships, where she won gold...

 and Kim Smith ran the fastest and third-fastest times ever on American soil, for first and second place respectively. A total of around 13,000 runners participated in the day's events. Kim Smith returned in 2011 to set a 19-second personal best of 1:07:36, a new U.S. all-comer's record for the women's half marathon.

Past winners

Marathon

Key:

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
45th	2010		2:22:31		2:46.06
46th	2011		2:18.49		2:47.25

Half marathon

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
45th	2010		1:01:07		1:07:52
46th	2011		1:03:57		1:07:36

NOTE: 45th refers to the 45th Mardi Gras Marathon overall; Competitor Group began organising the race in 2010.

External links

• Official website