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A Race Like No Other
New York City Marathon 2009 - Women's Field Bios
By Sharon Ekstrom
While the men's race could be anyone' with the depth of the field, the outcome of the women' race seems to favor the fastest athlete in the field, who also is incidentally the fastest female marathoner EVER, defending champion Paula Radcliffe. While she is returning to the marathon from a series of fitness setbacks, other fast female runners will be on hand to add competition to the field competitors like Dire Tune, Selina Kosgei, Lyudmila Petrova, Tatyana Petrova, Yuri Kano, Christelle Daunay and Derartu Tulu will certainly make a fourth victory tough for defending champion Radcliffe.
Paula Radcliffe
Age: 35
Country: United Kingdom
Hands down, Paula Radcliffe is one of the greatest women in the history of running. A national hero in Great Britain, she is best known as the fastest female marathoner in the world with a 2:15:25 from the 2003 London Marathon. Radcliffe remains the only woman to break 2:18 - which she did three times! Other great accomplishments include world records in the 10k and Half-Marathon, 2000 and 2001 World Half Marathon Champion, 2005 World Marathon Champion, victories of the Chicago Marathon and three-time winner of both the New York City and London Marathons. Yet, an Olympic medal still eludes the thirty-five year old and a series of setbacks have out-shadowed her more recent victories of the New York City Marathon.
Haunted by two disappointing performances at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics, Radcliffe redeemed herself with wins of the 2004 New York City Marathon (2:23:10), 2005 London Marathon, 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, 2007 New York City Marathon (2:23:09) and 2008 New York City Marathon (2:23:56).
Yet, 2009 was further filled with setbacks, as a broken toe prevented her from running the London Marathon. Opting for surgery, she headed to California in March to remove a bunion from her right foot believing it was a contributing factor to her injuries for the past few years. Following a quick recovery, Radcliffe headed to the 2009 New York City Half Marathon to test her fitness prior to the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Although winning the race three seconds off the standing course record, Radcliffe ran her slowest half-marathon finish ever in hot and humid conditions which initially was the reasoning behind her withdrawal from the championship marathon. One month later she disappointed her nation once again when she withdrew from the World Championships Half-Marathon in Birmingham, England citing tonsillitis.
Radcliffe has not raced since the New York City Half; but she has two major factors going for her - she has won every marathon she has participated in outside the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games and has 2:23 finishes from the last three consecutive New York City Marathons. No other female can rival her speed and chances are she will dominate the race from the start, if she is healthy enough.
Dire Tune
Age: 24
Country: Ethiopia
In an event where most marathoners tend to have over a decade of solid racing, Ethiopian Dire Tune at twenty-four has participated in thirteen marathons since her debut in 2005 - which is as many or more than veterans of the distance. (Radcliffe at thirty-five has 10 and Lyudmila Petrova at forty-one has 23). Tune has also finished in the top 10 over half the marathons she has run and had victories of the 2006 Hong Kong Marathon, 2007 and 2008 Houston Marathon and 2008 Boston Marathon. Tune was the youngest champion ever of the Boston Marathon winning the 2008 race in 2:25:25, and this was three months after a victory of the Houston Marathon in a personal best time of 2:24:40.
Although she has never performed well at a championship races - 2005 World Championships (35th place), 2007 World Championships (DNF), 2008 Beijing Olympics (15th place), and 2009 World Championships (23rd place), Tune has much more in store. With performances like a world record at the 2008 Golden Spike one hour race and wins at the 2009 edition of the race, as well as the 2009 RAK Half Marathon in personal best of 67:18, Tune is expected to be a front runner in New York. Edged out of a 2nd victory at the 2009 Boston Marathon by Salina Kosgei, Tune will have to bring out her best on race day.
 Magdelena Lewy Boulet
Age: 36
Country: USA
Born in Poland, Magdalena Lewy Boulet became a US citizen on the famous day of September 11th, 2001. Lewy Boulet is best remembered for her heroic run at the 2008 USA Olympic Trials Marathon where she ran away from the field at the start building a lead of nearly two minutes at the halfway point. Ultimately caught and passed by Deena Kastor, Lewy Boulet continued on to finish second at the Olympic Trials in a personal best of 2:30:19 and gain a berth on the Olympics Marathon team. Lewy Boulet has improved her half marathon best time twice in 2009, winning the 2009 USA Half Marathon championships race at Houston in a personal best 1:11:47, which she then improved to 1:11:46 at the October 2009 Rock N Roll San Jose Half Marathon.
Salina Kosgei
Age: 32
Country: Kenya
Third fastest woman in the field is Salina Kosgei who is best known for her recent victory of the 2009 Boston Marathon - having edged out the defending champion in a sprint finish. Other accolades for her include wins of 2004 Paris Marathon, 2005 Prague Marathon and 2006 Singapore Marathon, four sub-70 minute half marathons including a personal best in 67:52 from the 2006 Lisbon Half and a 10th place at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon. While she may be overshadowed by defending champion Radcliffe in the field, she may be one of the only women to rival the Briton's speed early in the race.
 Lyudmila Petrova (RUS)
Age: 41
Country: Russia
Lyudmila Petrova, who will be 41 years old when she races her 8th New York City Marathon, is a veteran of the distance with twenty-three career marathons and top 10 finishes in all but two races. What is most remarkable about this master's runner with nearly two decades of racing experience is that she can still compete at high levels against runners almost half her age. She ran her personal best finish at the 2006 London Marathon with a 2:21:29, stealing the Russian national record from Svetlana Zakharova, and in 2008, placed fifth in London in a 2:26:45 - the fastest finish for a 39-year-old. Focusing solely on marathons in 2008 and 2009, Petrova was runner-up to Paula Radcliffe at the 2008 New York City Marathon (2:25:43) also claiming the fastest female master's world record title. She remains an aggressive competitor in the distance sport that incorporates strategy, skill and past experience and has proven that age is of no bearing in the marathon. Expect to see Petrova in the lead pack.
 Yuri Kano
Age: 30
Country: Japan
Japanese powerhouse, Yuri Kano, ran a 2:24:43 (3rd place) at her debut marathon at the 2007 Osaka Marathon. In 2008 she predominantly raced in Japan - finishing 2nd at the Tokyo Marathon (2:24:27 personal best) and 3rd at the Nagoya Women's Marathon (2:26:39); but for 2009 she made some changes including changing sponsor teams. Now running for Second Wind AC, she branched out and began racing marathons outside of Japan - the 2009 London Marathon before representing her country at the 2009 World Championships Berlin finishing 7th in 2:26:57. She even made time to run the 2009 New York Road Runners Mini 10k giving her more experience against international athletes. While she is humbled by the quality of runners in New York, she is capable of performing well and has a shot at the podium.
Christelle Daunay
Age: 34
Country: France
Olympian and French National Marathon Record Holder Christelle Daunay comes to the New York City Marathon elite field as a wild card. Her previous marathon finishes of 2:28:54 at the 2007 Paris Marathon (3rd place), 2:28:24 at the 2008 Osaka Marathon (10th place) and 2:31:48 at the 2008 Olympic Games Marathon (20th place) are average when analyzing top elite fields. But earlier in 2009, Daunay set a personal record of 2:25:43 at the Paris Marathon (3) proving that the hard marathon training was beginning to pay off. As one of the top five women in the elite field, her performance in New York City will dictate things to come. Daunay will be running her first race in the United States.
Derartu Tulu
Age: 37
Country: Ethiopia
At 37 years of age when many are winding down careers, four-time Olympian Derartu Tulu is ready to make a comeback. A wild card at this race, Tulu was once a top competitor in elite fields. Some of her accolades include two-time Olympic gold medalist at 10,000 meters (1992 and 2000), 2001 London Marathon champion (2:23:57) and 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Champion. Tulu has run 19 half marathons - 10 of which were sub 60 minute, including the Ethiopian national record in 67:03 at the 2001 Lisbon Half Marathon. While she has run several middling marathon performances in the past two years, her 4th place finish at the ING Philadelphia Distance Run half-marathon (70:33) indicates that she still has some racing to do.
Coverage Homepage
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A Race Like No Other
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