Skip to main content

'NYC Half Adds International Stars'

By David Monti

(c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

日体大Toyo University's Kento Otsu (#2) and Yuta Shitara (#4).  Photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu.

NEW YORK (01-Mar) -- The New York Road Runners announced today that some of the distance running's top international stars would run the seventh annual NYC Half on Sunday, March 18, joining USA Olympians Desiree Davila, Kara Goucher, Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein at America's most competitive spring half-marathon.

Race director Mary Wittenberg, the NYRR's president and, called the additions to the race "a dynamic field of stars," adding that "the NYC Half will provide a thrilling preview" for this summer's Olympic Marathon.

Leading the list on the women's side are defending champion, Caroline Rotich of Kenya (1:08:52 PB); the fastest-ever women's half-marathoner on U.S. soil, Kim Smith of New Zealand (1:07:11); and reigning ING New York City Marathon champion, Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia (1:09:26).  Also expected to start the women's race are Olympians Jo Pavey of Great Britain (1:08:53), Madai Perez of Mexico (1:09:45), Hilda Kibet of the Netherlands (1:08:39), and Lisa Jane Weightman of Australia (1:09:00).  London Olympic hopefuls include Olesya Syreva of Russia (1:09:52), Irvette Van Blerk of South Africa (1:10:56), Yolanda Caballero of Colombia (1:12:35), and Claire Hallissey of Great Britain (1:12:02).

"Winning the NYC Half last year made me believe that anything is possible if I train hard," said Rotich through a statement from her training base in Santa Fe, N.M.. "It made me believe that I can win more and more. The first time I went to New York, it was so busy and it was too much for me!  But the more I go back, it gets easier and easier. I love all the crowds that come out to watch in New York. Now, I’m really excited to go back and try to defend my title."

Marilson Gomes Dos Santos, twice the winner of the ING New York City Marathon and the South American record holder for the half-marathon (59:33), will be one of the top contenders in the men's field, Wittenberg said.  In addition to the American stars, Dos Santos will have to worry about three exceptional Africans who are sure to be fighting for the win: Feyisa Lilesa and Deribe Merga of Ethiopia, and Peter Cheruiyot Kirui of Kenya.  Lilesa was the bronze medalist in the marathon at the IAAF World Championships last summer, and blasted a course record and personal best 59:22 at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon last January.  Merga was the 2009 Boston Marathon champion and has a half-marathon career best of 59:15.  Kirui finished sixth at last summer's IAAF World Championships at 10,000m and boasts a half-marathon personal best of 59:40.

"I am excited to be returning to New York for the NYC Half,” Gomes said in prepared remarks.  "My two wins in the ING New York City Marathon have been the most important victories of my running career, and last year the NYC Half prepared me well for the personal best that I set in the Virgin London Marathon. I'm hoping to run even faster in both races in this important Olympic year."

Other international entrants on the men's side include Morocco's Abderrahime Bouramdane (1:03:07+ PB), Kenya's Wesley Korir (1:02:40), Canada's Eric Gillis (1:03:34), and Kenya's Sam Chelanga (1:03:41).  In a special arrangement with the Ageo City Half-Marathon, the two top Japanese collegiate athletes from that race will also be competing, Kento Otsu (1:02:43) and Yuta Shitara (1:02:35).

The NYC Half is extraordinarily competitive.  According to the independent Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the NYC Half was the most competitive half-marathon in the United States last year for both men and women.  The race boasts a $100,000 prize money purse, and a $20,000 first prize, both the largest for any American half-marathon.

The NYRR expanded the field for this year's event to 15,000 athletes who will run on a new course from Central Park to the South Street Seaport.  The race will be televised live by WABC, and the telecast will also be available on-line at tv.nyrr.org beginning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
  
NOTE: Race Results Weekly Inc. provides professional athlete consulting for the New York Road Runners and the NYC Half --Ed.

JRN arranged the invitation for Hakone Ekiden winner Toyo University's Otsu and Shitara to run the NYC Half Marathon and will be accompanying them and their coach Toshiyuki Sakai to provide on-the-ground support and coverage.

photo (c) 2012 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more