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Catherine Ndereba, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Hendrick Ramaala
Added to Superstar Field at NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE
Six Olympians, athletes from 13 countries set to challenge for title
New York, July 25, 2007— Defending champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya,
reigning Boston and LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon champion Robert Kipkoech
Cheruiyot of Kenya, and ING New York City Marathon 2004 champion Hendrick
Ramaala of South Africa have been added to a superstar field for the NYC
Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE to be held on Sunday, August 5, it was
announced today by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
In only its second year, New York's premier half-marathon race will
showcase international marathon superstars from 13 countries, including six
Olympians, eight national record-holders, and two men—Cheruiyot and
Ethiopian running great Haile Gebrselassie—who between them have won four
of the current 2006-07 World Marathon Majors Series races. A strong
gathering of American men, including Olympians Abdi Abdirahman and Alan
Culpepper and former marathon world record-holder Khalid Khannouchi, will
give the hometown fans plenty to cheer about.
"There is nothing 'half' about this 13.1-mile international race," said
Wittenberg. "The NYC Half-Marathon has it all—a world-class field featuring
compelling match-ups, run on a best-of-New York City course. With names
like Haile, Catherine the Great, Cheruiyot, Abdi, Khalid, and Ramaala, it
is a start-list worthy of one of the World Marathon Majors."
The men's race will have one of the strongest half-marathon fields ever
assembled in the United States, with four entrants who have broken one hour
for the half marathon.
Cheruiyot, 28, is all but assured to win the inaugural World Marathon
Majors title, as he is the defending champion of the LaSalle Bank Chicago
Marathon and the two-time defending champion and course record-holder
(2:07:14) of the BAA Boston Marathon. Ramaala, 35, is a two-time Olympian
who made his marathon breakthrough with a victory at the ING New York City
Marathon 2004. He is also a two-time medalist at the IAAF World
Half-Marathon Championships. Viktor Röthlin of Switzerland, 32, returns to
New York after a strong seventh-place finish in the ING New York City
Marathon in 2006. He has twice won the Zürich Marathon and set the Swiss
record of 2:08:20 at that race this year.
Ndereba will look to defend her title against Madai Perez of Mexico, Nina
Rillstone of New Zealand, and Yuri Kano, Megumi Oshima, and Akemi Ozaki, all
of Japan.
The 2004 Olympic silver medalist, Ndereba, 35, is looking for her second
victory at the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE after edging Australian
Benita Johnson in 2006 by three-tenths of a second to win in 1 hour, 9
minutes, 42 seconds. At the 2001 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Ndereba,
nicknamed "Catherine the Great," became the first woman to crack the 2:19
barrier, a feat only Paula Radcliffe has achieved since. Ndereba has won
seven World Marathon Majors races, including the 2003 World Championships
marathon.
Perez, 27, became the Mexican national marathon record-holder with her
fourth-place 2:22:59 at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, and she was
the third-place finisher at the 2007 Boston Marathon. Rillstone, 32, holds
the New Zealand half-marathon record of 1:10:49, which she set in 2005 at
the Senior Women's Half-Marathon in Christchurch; she will represent New
Zealand in the marathon at next month's IAAF World Championships in Osaka.
All three Japanese runners return to New York after competing in the NYRR
New York Mini 10K in June. Kano, 28, narrowly missed a spot on the podium
at the 2006 NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE with her fourth-place
finish; Oshima, 31, and Ozaki, 29, are both making their debuts in the
event.
On a course designed to celebrate New York City, the NYC Half-Marathon
Presented by NIKE will take runners on a loop through Central Park, down
Seventh Avenue through Times Square, across 42nd Street, and along the
expansive West Side Highway to Battery Park in the heart of the city's
financial district; finishers will have a view of the Statue of Liberty.
|
By
the Numbers
The 2007 NYC Half-Marathon Presented
by NIKE will feature:
|
|
Two men who
have won four of
the current 2006-07 World Marathon Majors Series races between
them |
|
Three World
Championships individual medalists |
|
Three
current or former world record-holders |
|
Four men who
have broken one hour for the half-marathon and two who have broken 59
minutes |
|
Six
Olympians |
|
Eight
national record-holders |
|
Thirteen 2008
U.S. Olympic Team Trials marathon qualifiers |
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