Reigning Boston Champions Geoffrey
Mutai and Caroline Kilel and London Winner Mary Keitany Added to ING New
York City Marathon 2011 Field
Ethiopians Tsegaye Kebede and Buzunesh Deba, Russia’s Galina
Bogomolova, and Sweden’s Isabellah Andersson fill out championship field
for November 6 race
Wheelchair field to feature course record holders Kurt Fearnley of
Australia and Edith Wolf-Hunkeler of Switzerland and 2010 winner Tatyana
McFadden of the USA
New York, September 28, 2011 ÛÓ2011 Boston Marathon champions
Geoffrey Mutai and Caroline Kilel and 2011 Virgin London Marathon
champion Mary Keitany are part of a powerful field of Kenyan standouts
who will compete against Ethiopian Olympic and World
Championships medalist Tsegaye Kebede, 2011 Los Angeles Marathon
champion Buzunesh Deba, Russian phenomenon Galina Bogomolova, and
Swedish sensation Isabellah Andersson in the ING New York City Marathon
2011 on Sunday, November 6, it was announced today by
New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
Course record holders Kurt Fearnley of Australia and Edith Wolf-Hunkeler
of Switzerland and 2010 winner Tatyana McFadden of the United States
were announced for the wheelchair race.
Previously announced runners for the men’s race include 2010 champion
Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia, 2009 champion Meb Keflezighi and fellow
Americans Bobby Curtis and Ed Moran, 2011 Virgin London Marathon
champion Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya and Olympians Juan
Luis Barrios of Mexico and Jaouad Gharib of Morocco. Two-time New York
City Marathon champion Martin Lel was forced to withdraw from the race
due to injury.
In the women’s race, previously announced runners include defending
champion and 2011 World Champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya, three-time U.S.
Olympian Jen Rhines, New Zealand Olympian Kim Smith, Jo Pavey of Great
Britain, Portugal’s championship long-distance
duo of Jéssica Augusto and Ana Dulce Félix, and U.S. runners Lauren
Fleshman and Molly Pritz making their marathon debuts.
Other top contenders in the wheelchair division include, on the men’s
side, Masazumi Soejima of Japan, Switzerland’s Heinz Frei and Marcel
Hug, Krige Schabort of the United States, Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa,
and Josh Cassidy of Canada; and, on the women’s
side, Wakako Tsuchida of Japan, Amanda McGrory and Christina Ripp
Schwab of the United States, Shelly Woods of Great Britain, and Christie
Dawes of Australia.
“We have a star-studded international field for the ING New York City
Marathon 2011 that brings together an incredible lineup of champions
from this year’s Boston, London, and LA marathons,” said Wittenberg.
“What a treat to have Geoffrey Mutai, who ran the
fastest time ever recorded for a marathon at Boston this year, in the
race, along with Buzunesh Deba, this year’s LA winner, here again to
compete in the city she lives and trains in.”
Mutai, 29, of Kenya, won the 2011 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:03:02 ÛÓ
the fastest time ever recorded for a certified marathon. Since then, he
has been unbeatable on the roads, winning the B.A.A. 10-K in Boston on
June 26, in 27:19, and the Giro Podistico
Internazionale di Castelbuono 10-K in Sicily on July 26 in 29:05.
Kebede, 24, of Ethiopia, won the bronze medal in the marathons at both
the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2009 World Championships. One of the
world’s most decorated marathoners, he’s won Fukuoka twice (2008 and
2009), Paris in 2008 and London in 2010. He has
a 2:05:18 personal best, and will be making his ING New York City
Marathon debut.
Keitany, 29, of Kenya, won the 2011 Virgin London Marathon in a personal
best time of 2:19:19, the fastest time in the world this year. She
finished third at the ING New York City Marathon last year and is also
the world record holder at the half marathon
(1:05:50) and 25-K (1:19:53).
Kilel, 30, of Kenya, won the 2011 Boston Marathon by two seconds in a
personal best time of 2:22:36 after a thrilling stretch duel with
American Desiree Davila. Kilel has also recorded marathon victories in
Frankfurt (2010), Ljubljana (2009), Taipei (2008),
and Nairobi (2005).
Deba, 24, an Ethiopian who lives full-time in New York City, has
recorded two marathon victories this year, setting personal best times
with both efforts. Last March she won the Honda Los Angeles Marathon in
2:26:34, then won the Rock Û¢n’ Roll San Diego Marathon
last June in an even faster 2:23:31. She won four marathons in 2010,
and finished 10th at the ING New York City Marathon.
Click Here: Kangaroos Rugby League Jersey
Bogomolova, 33, is Russia’s second-fastest marathoner ever with a
2:20:47 personal best set in Chicago in 2006. She was the Russian
marathon record holder for four years from 2006 through 2010.
Andersson, 30, of Sweden is a four-time winner of the Stockholm
Marathon. She is the Swedish record holder with a 2:23:41 career best.
Fearnley, 30, of Australia, is one of the most colorfulÛÓand
fearedÛÓwheelchair athletes in the world. He’s captured nine medals at
the Paralympic Games, and won four consecutive ING New York City
Marathon titles (2006-2009); his 1:29:22 course record from 2006
still stands. Fearnley has won Paralympic Marathon gold medals, World
Championships marathon gold, and has marathon wins in 10 countries on
five continents.
“Finishing up my marathon racing year in New York is an annual event for
me, which has special meaning in 2011, because I am here as a married
man for the first time, with my wife, Sheridan, and I have a special
mission, which is to become the champion again,
after my four-year winning streak was broken in 2010,” said Fearnley.
Wolf-Hunkeler, 39, of Switzerland, is a five-time ING New York City
Marathon champion (2004-2005, 2007-2009) and set the course record
twice, including her still-standing mark of 1:52:38 from 2007. Hunkeler
did not race in 2010, as she gave birth to her first
child, daughter Elin, on September 14, 2010. Wolf-Hunkeler also holds
the Olympic wheelchair marathon record at 1:39:21.
“New York is the highlight of my season. It is also special and
beautiful moment after the birth of my daughter Elin to again
participate in a major marathon, which brought me so much success in the
past,” said Wolf-Hunkeler.
McFadden, 22, of Clarksville, MD, a student at the University of
Illinois, won last year’s ING New York City Marathon with the boldest of
tactics: She powered up the course’s
biggest hillÛÓthe Verrazano-Narrows BridgeÛÓin the first mile
and took a 30 meter lead that would only widen as the race went on. As
packs of racers worked together behind her, McFadden pushed on alone for
the entire distance. By the finish, her lead had grown to nearly six
minutes. McFadden is a six-time Paralympic
medalist, five-time American record-holder, and multi-gold medal winner
at the most recent Paralympic World Championships in New Zealand. She
was a 2011 nominee for the ESPY Award in the Female Athlete with a
Disability category.
“I am thrilled to be returning to the ING New York City Marathon this
year,” said McFadden. “It will be incredible to defend my title against
this amazingly deep and talented field of athletes. I really look
forward to the challenge and the excitement that
comes with the marathon in New York City.”
Other top contenders in the wheelchair division:
·
Soejima,
41, of Japan, won the 2011 Boston Marathon in a time of 1:18:50.
Soejima
set the Japanese record for the wheelchair marathon at 1:21:23 with his
second-place finish in the 2008 Padova (Italy) Marathon. In 2007, he
became the first Japanese winner at Boston, breaking Van Dyk’s streak of
six consecutive wins with a seven-minute margin
of victory. Soejima was third in his 2007 debut in New York and second
in 2008 and 2010 (by a mere two seconds), and he won the 2009 Honolulu
Marathon.
·
Frei,
53,
of Switzerland, holds world records from 10,000 meters (20:25.90) to
100 kilometers (3:38:50). He has won the Hamburg Marathon an astounding
12 times, has won 12 Paralympics gold
medals and 12 World Championships gold medals. He placed second at this
year’s Virgin London Marathon.
·
Hug,
25, of Switzerland, is one of the world’s top young wheelchair
athletes. In
2009, he had four marathon victories and finished third at the ING New
York City Marathon. In 2010, Hug finished second at the Virgin London
Marathon and later that year won the prestigious Oita (Japan) Wheelchair
Marathon. This will be his fourth ING New
York City Marathon.
·
Schabort,
48, of Cedartown, GA, will compete in his eleventh ING New York City Marathon this November.
One
of the winningest athletes in history, Schabort has notched victories
in Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, New York City (2002 and
2003), and Honolulu an astounding
seven times. His runner-up finish to Kurt Fearnley in 2009 was the
closest in race history, with both athletes being given the same finish
time and Fearnley winning by mere inches. Schabort was on the South
African Paralympic Team in 1992, 1996, 2000, and
2004, and he took the bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics
Marathon and improved to the silver eight years later in Sydney. In
2011, he has won both the Utica Boilermaker 15K and the Peachtree 10K
Road Race.
·
Van Dyk,
38, of South Africa, is a nine-time winner of the Boston Marathon
(2001-2006,
2008-2010) ÛÓ his victories are the most by an athlete in any category
in the race’s history. In addition to his success in Boston, Van Dyk was
the winner in New York City in 2005, and 2nd in 2002 and 2003.
·
Cassidy,
26, of Canada, is making his sixth appearance at the ING New York City
Marathon. In the past three years, he has been victorious at the
Canadian Marathon Championships (2009), Peachtree 10K Road Race (2010),
and the Ottawa Marathon and Virgin London Marathon, both in 2010.
·
Tsuchida,
37,
of Japan, notched her fifth consecutive Boston Marathon win in 2011.
Her time of 1:34:06 broke the long-standing (1994) women’s world record
for the marathon distance. She has
also won in London (2010) and Oita (2009), and was 3rd in the ING New
York City Marathon 2009, the last time she raced here.
·
Dawes,
31,
of Australia, took third place at the ING New York City Marathon 2008
and fourth place in 2009. She returns after taking a year off from
racing during which she gave birth to
her son, Charlie.
·
McGrory,
25, of Champaign, IL, as a member of the top-ranked University of
Illinois
wheelchair team, won in New York City on her first try in 2006, and has
been on the podium in each of her other visits here (2007: 3rd; 2008:
2nd; and 2010: 3rd). She has also placed 1st in the Virgin London
Marathon (2009 and 2011), Bank of America Chicago
Marathon (2010), and Grandma’s Marathon and Paris Marathon in 2011.
·
Ripp Schwab,
31, of Westminster, CO, another former University of Illinois racer,
returned after a hiatus from wheelchair racing to finish 2nd in the ING
New York City Marathon 2010. Her last previous visit to New York was
in 2006, when she finished 4th. She first raced here in 2003, finishing
2nd, after winning the Boston Marathon in that year. She was a member
of the highly successful University of Illinois
women’s wheelchair basketball team, and competed in that sport for the
USA Paralympic team in Athens (2004) and again in Beijing (2008).
·
Woods,
25, of Great Britain, has finished second in New York three times
(2009,
2007 and 2006) and 3rd in her initial appearance here (2005). She was
second, one second behind McGrory, in the 2011 Virgin London Marathon.
She is a past winner of the Los Angeles and London Marathons, both in
2007. She currently holds the British records
in the 400m, 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m, and marathon.
New York Road Runners
Headquartered in New York City, New York Road Runners is dedicated to
advancing the sport of running, enhancing health and fitness for all,
and meeting our community’s needs. Our goal is to use the expertise
acquired in our 52-year history to empower all people
to live fitter, healthier lives through participation in our races,
community events, instruction and training resources, and youth
programs. Our races and other events draw more than 300,000 people each
year. The ING New York City Marathon, NYRR’s premier
event, is the largest and most inclusive marathon in the world,
attracting the world’s top professional runners every year and raising
$30.8 million for charity in 2010. NYRR’s running-based youth programs,
which currently serve more than 100,000 children
in hundreds of schools and community centers, promote children’s health
and fitness, character development, and personal achievement in
underserved communities. For more information, visit
www.nyrr.org.
The ING New York City Marathon
The premier event of New York Road Runners,
the ING New York City Marathon is one of the world’s great road races,
drawing some 140,000 applicants. The race attracts many world-class
professional athletes, not only for the $650,000
in prize money, but also for the chance to excel in the media capital
of the world before two million cheering spectators and a worldwide
broadcast reach of 330 million. As any one of the more than 875,000 past
participants will attest, crossing the finish
line in Central Park is one of the great thrills of a lifetime. For
more information, visit
www.ingnycmarathon.org.