FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sara Hunninghake
Media Relations Department
New York Road Runners
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Lorraine DelliCarpini
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Abdirahman, Culpepper, Khannouchi Headline
American Field for NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE
Race will serve as another major prep for
2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men's Marathon
New York, July 18, 2007—Olympians Abdi Abdirahman and Alan Culpepper and
former marathon world record-holder Khalid Khannouchi will headline a
stellar American field for the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE on
Sunday, August 5, it was announced today by New York Road Runners president
and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
The race will serve as an important stop on the road to Beijing for these
and other leading Americans, as many of them plan to return to New York and
Central Park for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men's Marathon on
Saturday, November 3. Additional Olympic Trials qualifiers announced for
the NYC Half-Marathon field were Peter Gilmore, Jason Hartmann, Brandon
Leslie, and local favorite Karl Dusen.
"Our top American men are coming to New York to race the best in the world
at the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE," Wittenberg said. "This is
their chance to make their mark in the city that holds the key to Beijing."
The men's race is shaping up to be among the greatest half-marathons ever
contested in the United States, with the previously announced Ethiopian
distance great Haile Gebrselassie leading the field in his New York debut.
There is a total prize-money purse of $70,000, with the men's and women's
champions each collecting $10,000.
Abdirahman, 30, is on a hot streak, having recently won national titles at
10,000 meters and 10K in a span of 14 days. "Abdi," as he is known, won his
third USA 10,000-meter title in an exciting race with Dathan Ritzenhein at
the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships, and then earned the USA 10K crown at
the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4. Abdirahman, a native of
Somalia who lives in Tucson, AZ, is a two-time Olympian in the 10,000 and
is expected to contend for spots on the 2008 Olympic Team in both the men's
marathon and track Olympic Trials. He will look to improve upon his
third-place finish in last year's NYC Half-Marathon.
Culpepper, 34, will return to New York for his second appearance in this
race after an eighth-place finish in the inaugural event in 2006. A
two-time Olympian, he scored one of the biggest victories of his career at
the men's marathon Olympic Trials in 2004, outkicking Meb Keflezighi in the
final stretch to win by five seconds. Culpepper is expected to defend his
title later this year at the Olympic Trials in New York. He lives and
trains near Boulder, CO, with his wife, Shayne, herself a two-time Olympian
on the track.
Khannouchi, 35, who lives in nearby Ossining, NY, set the U.S. marathon
record at the 2002 Flora London Marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 5 minutes,
38 seconds, to lower his own world mark and claim his fifth title in a
World Marathon Majors race. He is one of only two men in the last 80 years
to break the marathon world record twice, and the only man in history to
have run under 2:06 three times.
Gilmore, 30, made a name for himself on the marathon scene by finishing as
the top American in both the ING New York City Marathon 2006 (10th place)
and the 2007 Boston Marathon (seventh place). A native of the San Francisco
area, Gilmore is a strong contender for a spot on the 2008 Olympic team in
the marathon. He finished eighth at the 2004 Olympic Trials.
Dusen, 24, an Olympic Trials qualifier who works in Manhattan as an analyst
for AIG Global Investments, will have a home-course advantage over fellow
Olympic Trials qualifier Hartmann, 26, a training partner of Ritzenhein.
Hartmann, who represented the United States at the IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships in 2005, recently moved to Eugene, OR, to continue training
with Ritzenhein. Leslie, 31, earned the Olympic Trials "A" qualifying
standard at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.
JUST THE FACTS
The American Men
|
|
Abdi Abdirahman
|
Alan Culpepper
|
Khalid Khannouchi
|
Peter Gilmore
|
Karl Dusen
|
Jason Hartmann
|
Brandon Leslie
|
|
Age |
30 |
34 |
35 |
30 |
24 |
26 |
31 |
|
Hometown |
Tucson,
AZ |
Boulder, CO |
Ossining, NY |
San
Mateo, CA |
New
York, NY |
Eugene,
OR |
Albuquerque,
NM |
|
Half-Marathon Personal Best
|
1:01:07, Philadelphia, 2006
|
1:03:11, Austin, 2006
|
1:00:27, Philadelphia,
1997 |
1:04:31, Boston,
2006 |
Debut (1:03:10
20K) |
1:03:07, Houston,
2006 |
1:03:10, Houston, 2006
|
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|
