Posted: January 28, 2005

Athletics: Rono and Kortchaguina Will defend ING Ottawa Marathon Titles

The Ottawa Citizen has reported that Elly Rono of Kenya and Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Russia will defend their respective men's and women's titles at the 31st ING Ottawa Marathon on May 29. They also will be chasing significantly more prize money. The male and female champions will each receive $15,000, plus time bonuses, compared to $10,000 and time bonuses last year. Organizers could award as much as $200,000 in prize money for this year's marathon as well as $50,000 in the May 28 MDS Nordion 10-kilometre race.

Last year Rono ran 2:11:47 ahead of Mustapha Bennacer's 2:12:03. Kortchaguina finished in 2:30:53 ahead of Alevtina Biktimirova - also from Russia - who ran 2:32:32.

The top Canadians were Matt McInnes in 2:18:51 and Nicole Stevenson in 2:34:34. Both are from Toronto.

Visit the ING Ottawa Marathon race website at: www.ncm.ca.