STRONG GROUP OF AMERICANS HEADED TO ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
NEW
YORK (30-Sep) -- A strong group of American athletes will see how they
stack up against some of the world's best runners when the line up for
the 39th edition of the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Their burden is great as no American has crossed the finish line first
here since 1982, but this is a determined group.
"Everybody
knows that New York is the race to run in the fall," said three-time
Olympian Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz., in a statement. "I know the
competition will be really tough, but I'm going there to try to win
it. That's how I always run."
Abdirahman, who has a marathon
personal best of 2:08:56 set in Chicago in 2006, will be running New
York for the third time. He finished a disappointing 14th in his
marathon debut here in 2004 when his Achilles tendon ruptured around
the 20 mile mark. Like a racing car with a flat tire, he limped to the
finish line in 2:17:09. Undeterred, he came back the following year
and set a then personal best 2:11:34 to finish fifth. Abdirahman ran
the Olympic Trials marathon here last November but dropped out.
Four
other prominent USA men will be making their New York City Marathon
debuts: Jason Lehmkuhle of Minneapolis, Minn.; James Carney of Boulder,
Colo.; Josh Rohatinsky of Portland, Ore.; and Steve Sundell of Redwood
City, Calif. Each of these men ran the Olympic Trials marathon here
last November, all setting personal bests. Lehmkuhle finished fifth in
2:12:54, Carney was 14th in 2:16:54, Rohatinsky was ninth in 2:15:22
(debut), and Sundell was 15th in 2:16:54.
"It's a star-spangled
banner group of top Americans running New York this year," said race
director and New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
"They come to New York believing in themselves and knowing they belong
on our biggest stage in marathon running."
LEWY BOULET AND MCGREGOR JOIN GOUCHER IN WOMEN'S FIELD
The
runner-up at the women's Olympic Trials marathon last April, Magdelena
Lewy Boulet of Oakland, Calif. (2:30:19 PB), and four-time U.S.
national champion, Katie McGregor of St. Louis Park, Minn. (2:32:36
PB), will join 2007 world championships bronze medalist Kara Goucher in
the all-women's professional race at New York. Both Lewy Boulet and
McGregor have run New York before and are familiar with its challenging
course and lack of pacemakers, something of a throwback in the current
era when there is so much emphasis on achieving world records on flat
courses.
"I'm really excited to run this year's ING New York
City Marathon," said Lewy Boulet who was forced to drop out of the
Beijing Olympic Marathon when a banged-up knee made it impossible for
her to finish. "After the disappointment of my injury in Beijing, I'm
eager to get back out and prove myself against the world's best
marathoners, and New York always has a stellar field."
The last
American man to win New York was Alberto Salazar in 1982, while the
last American woman to win was Miki Gorman in 1977. But Wittenberg is
optimistic about this year's class.
"Abdi, Magdalena, Katie,
Jason, James, and Josh join Kara to make our most formidable team of
Americans in years, with each a factor in his or her own right," she
said.
PHOTO CREDIT: Abdi Abdirahman after the 2007 NYC Half-Marathon (photo by Jane Monti)
ENDS