Posted: October 5, 2007

Athletics (RWire): Professional Fields Announced for B.A.A. Half Marathon

Past champions and newcomers vie for $30,000 purse BOSTON - (October 1, 2007) - For the seventh consecutive October thousands of runners will be racing through the streets of Boston and Brookline in the B.A.A. Half Marathon presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. The race is scheduled to begin at 8:00am on Sunday, October 7 at Roberto Clemente Field in Boston's Back Bay Fens neighborhood. The route will take runners out to the Franklin Park Zoo, and back again, along Boston's Emerald Necklace park system. Leading the pack will be a field of professional men and women, competing for a total prize purse of $30,000 with $5000 to each race champion. Defending champion Samuel Ndereba (KEN), 30, headlines a men's field that will be chasing Luke Metto's 3-year-old course record of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 57 seconds. After placing second here in 2005, Ndereba seized control of the 2006 race at the 11-mile mark. He crossed the finish line in 1:03:03, tying the fourth fastest time ever run on the course, and falling just short of a new course record. Ndereba made his marathon debut in Boston this past spring, placing ninth in 2:17:04. With that time, he and his sister, four-time Boston Marathon champion and former world-record holder (2:18:47) Catherine, set a unique record: they now own the fastest combined brother / sister marathon time in history at 4:35:51. American Celedonio Rodriguez (Alamosa, CO), 26, the man who beat Ndereba two years ago, and placed fifth last year, will be looking to regain the top spot. Rodriguez took the entire professional field by surprise in 2005, seizing the lead in the first mile and never looking back en route to a 12-second win. Challenging the two past race champions will be Richard Kiplagat (KEN), 26, runner-up in 2006. In his half-marathon debut, Kiplagat was the only man who could keep pace with Ndereba. He ultimately finished just 12 seconds back, in 1:03:15, the seventh fastest time ever run on the course. Joining these B.A.A. Half Marathon veterans will be Tom Nyariki (KEN), 36, who boasts a 5000m PR of 12:55.94, won the 2006 New York City Half Marathon in 1:01:22. Edna Kiplagat (KEN), 28, one of the year's hottest road racers, headlines the women's field. Kiplagat comes to Boston for the first time having already captured three major road racing titles in 2007, winning the Lilac Bloomsday 12K, ING Bay to Breakers 12K and Bolder Boulder 10K last May. Though she's a relative newcomer to the half-marathon distance, Kiplagat already owns a personal best of 1:09:32. Kiplagat will be challenged by Volha Krautsova (BLR), 26, who ran a PR of 1:11:33 in Philadelphia just a few weeks ago, and 20-year-old Caroline Chepkorir (KEN). Chepkorir also ran a PR in Philadelphia, finishing in 1:13:07. The top U.S. entrants in the women's field will be three-time World Cross Country Championships competitor Kathy Newberry (Williamsburg, VA) and 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon qualifier Caroline Bjune (Andover, MA). For more race information, go to: BAA.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