Posted: July 12, 2007

Athletics (RWire): Haile Gebrselassie to Make New York Racing Debut at NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE

NEW YORK - (July 10, 2007) - For the first time in his illustrious career, Ethiopian distance legend Haile Gebrselassie will race in the bright lights of New York City. He will run the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE on Sunday, August 5, it was announced by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. "Haile is an all-time great, combining those rare abilities of being a champion on the road and track and off as a goodwill ambassador for our sport," Wittenberg said. "His running in New York is as historic as when soccer legend Pelé came to New York to play in the final stages of his fabulous career." In just its second year, the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE has immediately established itself as a must-run event for the world's leading men and women professionals, and the 2007 race will have a sold-out field of more than 10,000 runners from around the world. "Haile's running here serves notice to the world that the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE is the half to run-similar to our city's great marathon," Wittenberg said. Widely considered the greatest distance runner of all-time, Gebrselassie, 34, has won all seven of his previous 13.1-mile races, including a world-record 58 minutes, 55 seconds in 2006 in Tempe, AZ, the last time he competed in the United States. (The record was later broken by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya.) The 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000 meter gold medalist has won 107 races in 55 different cities, only three of which (Atlanta, Boston and Tempe) have been in the United States. Gebrselassie is fresh off a double world record effort on June 27, having established world bests for the one-hour run and 20,000 meters on the track at the Golden Spike Grand Prix in Ostrava, Czech Republic. He has now set 22 world records in his career (17 official and 5 unofficial). "I'm so happy to run my first half-marathon in the Big Apple next month. I'm sure I will like the race and the atmosphere," said Gebrselassie, who has resumed training at home in Ethiopia. "Who knows which races in New York might follow in the future?" Gebrselassie is the first professional athlete announced for the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE, which will serve as a tune-up for many of the international runners also competing at the IAAF Track & Field World Championships, to be held August 25 - September 1 in Osaka, Japan. Athletes will be racing in New York for a prize purse of more than $70,000, with the male and female winners each receiving $10,000. A nine-time world champion, Gebrselassie has focused on road racing and the marathon since the 2004 Olympic Games, and he captured his first title in a World Marathon Majors race at Berlin in 2006. He has also claimed marathon victories in Fukuoka, Japan (2006) and Amsterdam (2005). On a course designed to celebrate New York City, the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE will take runners on a loop through Central Park, down Seventh Avenue through Times Square, across 42nd Street and along the expansive West Side Highway to Battery Park in the heart of the city's financial district, finishing with a view of the Statue of Liberty. New York Road Runners is working in collaboration with the Mayor's Office, City of New York Parks & Recreation, NYC & Company, New York City Sports Commission, New York City Police Department, Department of Transportation, Department of Sanitation, New York City Fire Department, and all the other city agencies that help throughout the year to produce its world-class events. For more information, visit: NYRR.org. Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director (805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016 Ryan@RunningUSA.org www.RunningUSA.org. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest