FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sara Hunninghake
Media Relations Department
New York Road Runners
212.860.4455 x344
Or
Lorraine DelliCarpini
212.642.7772
Three-Time NYRR New York Mini 10K Champion Lornah Kiplagat Returns
Catherine Ndereba and Benita Johnson also headline
women's professional field
New York, May 23, 2007—Defending champion and three-time winner Lornah
Kiplagat of the Netherlands will return to Central Park for the NYRR New
York Mini 10K on Saturday, June 9, it was announced today by New York Road
Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
With victories in 2003, '05, and '06, Kiplagat trails only two legendary
five-time champions, Grete Waitz and Tegla Loroupe, for most wins in the
world's original women-only road race, which debuted here in 1972.
A loaded field of professional runners, including former marathon world
record-holder and Olympic silver medalist Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, 2004
World Cross Country champion Benita Johnson of Australia, Commonwealth
Games medalist Mara Yamauchi of Great Britain, and New Zealand
half-marathon record-holder Nina Rillstone, will challenge Kiplagat for the
title and a $10,000 first-place prize.
"What better way to celebrate the strength and power of women today than by
bringing in an absolutely stellar field to set the pace," Wittenberg said.
"These women rule the roads of running and are history-makers in our sport.
They continue the rich history of the original women-only road race."
Kiplagat, 33, a Dutch citizen since 2003, notched her career's biggest
victory in March at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in her
native Kenya. With more than 70 victories, she is arguably the best road
racer in the world. In 2006, Kiplagat lowered her own 20K world record to 1
hour, 3 minutes, 21 seconds in winning the IAAF Road Running Championships.
She also has held the world record at 10 miles since 2002.
Ndereba, 34, nicknamed "Catherine the Great," became the first woman
marathoner under 2:19 when she ran 2:18:47 to win the LaSalle Bank Chicago
Marathon in 2001. The 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist, Ndereba has
won seven World Marathon Majors races and the 2003 World Championships
marathon. In 2006, she finished third in the ING New York City Marathon.
Fourth in last year's Mini, Johnson, 28, returns to New York for the first
time since her thrilling race to the wire in the 2006 NYC Half-Marathon
Presented by NIKE last summer, when Ndereba edged her by three-tenths of a
second in 1:09:42.3. Johnson went on to set the Australian record in
finishing third at the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.
Yamauchi, 33, was the 10,000-meter bronze medalist at the 2006 Commonwealth
Games and finished sixth at the 2007 Flora London Marathon. Rillstone, 32,
took seventh at the ING New York City Marathon 2006.
New York Road Runners will offer a prize purse totaling $30,000, and a time
bonus of $5,000 will be awarded to the first runner under the event record
of 30:29, set by Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco in 2002.
Founded by NYRR in 1972, the race got its name when race officials
convinced the first sponsor to run a more manageable six-mile "mini"
marathon—named for the miniskirt, which was then the height of
fashion—rather than a full marathon.
###
|
