Posted: August 15, 2005

Athletics: Anastasia Ndereba confirmed for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Organizers today confirmed that Kenyan Anastasia Ndereba, younger sister of World Championship silver medalist Catherine Ndereba, will run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on September 25th.

Anastasia has a marathon PR of 2:29:03, and has run 2:29 on three occasions. Earlier this year, she placed 9th in the prestigious Osaka Women’s Marathon in 2:30:45.

“We are delighted to have Anastasia compete in this year’s Toronto Waterfront,” said Race Director Alan Brookes. “She is such a consistent performer around the 2:30 mark, we are certainly expecting a new course record, and perhaps even a sub 2:30.” The current women’s course record is 2:36:20, set in 2003 by Russia’s Lyubov Morgunova.

Ndereba can expect to be pushed by fellow-Kenyan, Jennifer Chesinon, winner of the 2003 Carpi [Italy] Marathon, where she ran her PR of 2:31:38, and up and coming Russian, Victoria Zueva. In 2004, Chesinon went on to win Brussels in 2:32:16, and place second in Turin in 2:32:46. This Spring, she was 2nd in the Prague International Half Marathon in 1:13:36.

The women’s field at the Toronto Waterfront will be rounded out by Ethiopian Tiringo Getathew and Brits Lucy Hasell, and Amy Stiles, who both ran 2:39 at London this Spring. Hassall and Stiles are also part of “Team GB” in the new International Team Challenge Match at this year’s Waterfront [2 men, 2 women] versus Canada, represented by Sandy Jacobson [PR 2:33:51 and Tania Jones [PR 2:39:10].

Lured by the Toronto Waterfront’s flat, fast course, Anastasia is hoping for a new PR: “my dream is to continue to improve my time, so I can be on the same team as my sister for the Beijing 2008 Olympics”.

The race website is at: www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com.