FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ryan Hall Returns to Defend Philadelphia Title
Against Glittering International Field
Historic U.S. Road Race Debuts Rock 'n' Roll Format for 2010
Philadelphia, PA – September 10, 2010 – The event has a new name, but its
legendary pedigree lives on as defending champion Ryan Hall of the USA
looks to repeat last year's 1:01:52 victory at the ING Rock 'n' Roll
Philadelphia Half Marathon on Sunday, September 19th.
Known as the Philadelphia Distance Run for 32 years, the legacy of the
historic road race includes five World and three American records. Last
year Ryan Hall, the American record holder at the half-marathon (59:43,
Houston 2007), became the first American-born runner to win in Philadelphia
since Mark Curp turned the trick in 1986. This year Hall will use the race
as his final tune up for an assault on the American marathon record
(2:05:38, Khalid Khannouchi, London 2002) at the Oct. 10 Bank of America
Chicago Marathon.
"I am very excited to return to Philadelphia to run in the ING Rock n Roll
Half Marathon," said Hall, who won last year's race by four seconds over
Kenya's Samuel Ndereba. "Now that I have met Rocky, run the lightning fast
course, heard the bands, and experienced the energy on the streets of
Philadelphia, I am even more eager to compete in this great race."
Hall will be joined by fellow Stanford grad Brett Gotcher, the 2009 USA 20K
champion. Gotcher, who competes for McMillan Elite out of Flagstaff,
Arizona, represented the U.S. last year at the IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championship, and this January ran 2:10:36 to finish seventh at the Houston
Marathon. It was the fourth fastest marathon debut ever by aU.S. runner.
The Americans will be formidably challenged, however, by a powerful field
of international athletes led by Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri, a 2:05:30
marathoner who was second last year in the Chicago Marathon (2:06:04),
Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia, the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Champion
and #1 road racer of 2010 with wins at New York 's Healthy Kidney 10K,
Atlanta's Peachtree 10K, Cape Elizabeth, Maine's Beach to Beacon 10K, and
the Falmouth Road Race 7 Miler on Cape Cod. Also contending will be
Australian Shawn Forrest, a University of Arkansas grad who finished second
in the NCAA 10,000 meters last year, then took sixth in his professional
road racing debut earlier this summer at the Beach to Beacon 10K; Shadrack
Biwott of Kenya, a four-time All-American while running for the University
of Oregon; Simon Bairu of Canada and the Oregon Track Club, a University
of Wisconsin grad who bested Ryan Hall in winning the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona
Half-Marathon this January, then broke the Canadian national record for
10,000m in May (27:23); and Irish Olympian Alistair Cragg, a two-time
Olympian and seven-time NCAA champion while competing for the University of
Arkansas.
"This year's edition will be even more exciting than last year's," added
Hall. "With the field that's being assembled it is sure to be a flier!
Whoever gets to the finish line first will have to be in superb shape. My
training is off to a very good start and having this half marathon just
three weeks till the Bank of America Chicago Marathon I should be even
sharper than last year."
Wildcards expected to challenge for podium finishes are the Kenyan trio of
Matthew Kisorio, a sub-13:00 5000m runner on this year's Samsung Diamond
League track tour; McDonard Ondara, winner of the 2007 Rock 'n' Roll San
Jose Half Marathon; and Wesley Korir, who won his second consecutive L.A.
Marathon in March with a time of 2:09:19.
"The way you truly honor a champion is to assemble a field worthy of taking
his title away," said race historian Toni Reavis, who will call the race
live with Olympian Carrie Tollefson at 8 a.m. (EDT) on Competitor.com.
"Throughout its long history Philadelphia has gathered some impressive
fields, but I can't recall a year as strong as this one."
A Competitor event, the sold-out ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half
Marathon will welcome a record 18,600+ runners to the City of Brotherly
Love on Sunday, September 19th. Known for 32-years as the Philadelphia
Distance Run, one of the most renowned half marathons in the world, the
event has been rebranded as part of the nationwide Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
Series. The 2010 race will feature live bands and cheerleaders entertaining
participants along each mile of the historic 13.1-mile course, the home of
five World and three American records.
Event weekend kicks off Friday, September 17 with a free two-day Health &
Fitness Expo at Philadelphia Convention Center, which is open to the
public. The Expo, where all participants pick up their race number, will
feature over 100 exhibitors with free samples, the latest in running
apparel and a full schedule of interactive clinics. You can watch the
men's race LIVE on Competitor.com beginning at 8 a.m. EST. The event
concludes Sunday afternoon with a finish line festival and post race
concert in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum at Eakins Oval. For more
information, please visit philadelphia.competitor.com.
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