Posted: August 30, 2005

Athletics: Dibaba Headlines Hydro Active Women's Challenge

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

In what event organizers are touting as a world record attempt, double world champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia will headline the field for Sunday's Hydro Active Women's Challenge, a 5 kilometer road race for women in London's Hyde Park.

In 2003, Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain ran 14:51 (14:50.4) on the same serpentine course, the fastest ever run by a women* on a record standard course in an all-women's race. Dibaba tied that mark earlier this year at the Carlsbad 5000 in California and she is now looking to lower that mark and take sole possession of that record.

"This is very exciting, we welcome such a record attempt," said race director David Bedford, a former world record holder himself and now the race director of the Flora London Marathon.

Other top women who will be on the starting line include Sonia O'Sullivan (IRL), Susan Chepkemei (KEN), Derartu Tulu (ETH) and Charlotte Dale (GBR). The organizers expect about 22,000 women to participate.

Moreover, there will be simultaneous races for women in two other British cities. Versions of the race will also be contested in Liverpool (Tegla Loroupe and Joyce Chepchumba headline) and Birmingham (Restituta Joseph and Justyna Lesman headline).

*Lornah Kiplagat ran 14:47 in a mixed race in Brunssum, Netherlands in 2004