Blake Russell, Antonio Vega and Rosaria Console Withdraw From ING NYC Marathon

October 19, 2010
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

NEW YORK (19-Oct) -- Three elite athletes were forced to withdraw from the ING New York City Marathon, New York Road Runners officials announced here today.

Americans Blake Russell and Antonio Vega, and Italian Rosaria Console will be unable to start the November 7 race from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Central Park due to injuries.  Russell, a 2008 Olympic marathoner who lives in Marina, Calif., suffered an injury to her right calf.  After taking four days off, she tried to run again today but could not.

Vega, the 2010 USA Half-Marathon champion from St. Paul, Minn., and Console, the 2010 Italian Half-Marathon champion, both have hip injuries and notified race officials earlier this week that they cannot compete.  Vega competed at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Nanning, China, last Sunday and finished 23rd in 1:03:37.  He decided after that race that the discomfort in his hip was too great to compete in a full marathon three weeks.

The professional field for the ING New York City Marathon, one of the five commercial marathons of the World Marathon Majors, remains both strong and large.  Led by defending champions Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia, the men's field boasts ten athletes with sub-2:08 personal best times (including world record holder Haile Gebrselassie), and the women's field features eight women who have broken 2:25.  In addition, Olympic medallist Shalane Flanagan of Portland, Ore., and world half-marathon champion Mary Keitany of Kenya will make their marathon debuts.

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