Three veterans --Gete Wami of Ethiopia, Lyubov Morgunova of Russia and Hayley Haining of Great Britain-- have joined the field, as have rising stars Kim Smith of New Zealand and Dire Tune of Ethiopia.  That line-up gives the race the champions of the marathons in Berlin in 2007, and Boston and Rotterdam in 2008.

"What a cast of stars we have gathered as, once again, the leading ladies of the marathon world will be out front and center on race day," said New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg in a prepared statement.  "With more announcements to follow, it's already a potent mix."

Wami, 33, is the 2007/2008 World Marathon Majors champion and was Race Results Weekly #1 ranked marathoner in the world in 2007.  She finished second at New York last year after a pitched battle with Britain's Paula Radcliffe.  Wami has three Olympic medals and a marathon personal best of 2:21:34.

Morgunova set a surprising personal best at age 37 of 2:25:12, winning the Rotterdam Marathon last April, while Haining, 36, earned an alternate's position on the British Olympic team this year when she set a 2:29:18 personal best at the Flora London Marathon last April.

Smith and Tune lead the ING New York City Marathon's youth movement.  Smith, 26, a two-time Olympian, has chosen New York for her marathon debut and has a 30:35.54 national 10,000m record leading her impressive résumé.

"We Kiwis have a great distance running tradition and I would love to enhance this tradition in New York City on Nov. 2," Smith said through a media release.  "I have always wanted to run the marathon distance and now is the right time for me."

Tune, 23, has already run three marathons this year winning two of them.  She won the Chevron Houston Marathon last January in a personal best and course record 2:24:40, then bounced back to win the Boston Marathon last April in a fantastic sprint finish over Russian Alvetina Biktimirova by two seconds.  She also competed in the Beijing Olympic marathon last month and finished 16th.  Back in June in Ostrava, Tune broke Tegla Loroupe's world one-hour record, logging 18,571 meters.

The professional women at the ING New York City Marathon will run in a separate heat before the elite men and the waves of recreational runners.  No pacemakers will be used.

ENDS