Race director Carey Pinkowski has completed his elite fields for the 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 12, adding two of the most successful athletes in the race's 31-year history.
Two-time defending women's champion Berhane Adere of Ethiopia got her second victory at Chicago last year when she caught rising Romanian star, Adriana Pirtea, in the final few meters of the race. Running in unusually hot conditions, Adere made up a big deficit in the last kilometer to get her second Chicago victory. In much cooler conditions, Adere also won in 2006 in a personal best 2:20:42, a mark which remains the Ethiopian record.
No woman has every won Chicago three years in a row.
Kenyan Daniel Njenga, who has finished second three times in Chicago, has joined the men's field. Chicago has been a heart-breaking race for the 32 year-old athlete who has made the podium six times, but has never won. He has a personal best time of 2:06:16 set on Chicago's flat course in 2002.
The 31st Bank of America Chicago Marathon is the pentultimate stop on the 2007/2007 World Marathon Majors series which will conclude at the 2008 ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 2.
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