MINI 10-K CELEBRATES FOUR DECADES OF CHAMPIONS WITH MEDALISTS, OLYMPIANS & LEGENDS
By David Monti.
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
May 30, 2012
"On this special anniversary year of the world's first all-women road race and of Title IX, we're celebrating with one of the strongest and most diverse women's fields around," said New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg through a statement. "Our outstanding roster of champions and legends, coupled with thousands of active women from around the nation, will more than mark the Mini's 40th anniversary. It may be called the 'Mini,' but this race, and what it stands for, is truly massive."
Leading the field is reigning world marathon champion, and 2010 ING New York City Marathon winner, Edna Kiplagat of Kenya, who will use the race as a tune-up for this summer's Olympic Marathon. Kiplagat, 32, has a 10-K personal best of 31:18, and she'll be making her Mini debut.
Challenging Kiplagat for the title on the demanding loop course around Central Park, will be Ethiopia's Firehiwot Dado, the reigning ING New York City Marathon champion. Dado, 28, will be running only her third race of the year after winning the NYC Half last March, and finishing fourth at the Boston Marathon last April. She will be attempting to become the first-ever athlete to hold the ING New York City Marathon, NYC Half, and Mini titles simultaneously.
Representing America's hopes in the race will be 2012 Olympic marathoner Desiree Davila of Rochester Hills, Mich. Davila, 28, who finished second at the USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston last January, has a 10,000m best of 31:37.14, and will be making her Mini debut, a race she said she has always wanted to run.
"The Mini 10-K has been on my bucket list of races for some time," Davila told the event organizers. "I'm looking forward to being a part of the 40th anniversary and competing on the same roads as some of the greatest female runners ever. Im excited that with my focus being on the roads, it fits in with my summer schedule and I'll finally have the opportunity to compete in the historic event, and maybe even write a little bit of history myself."
Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and Lidia Simon of Romania, two of the most decorated runners in history, will also compete. Ndereba, 39, was twice the world marathon champion --in 2003 and 2007-- and won the Olympic Marathon silver medal twice, in 2004 and 2008. Simon, 28, was the Olympic Marathon silver medalist in 2000, the world marathon champion in 2001, and a world championships marathon bronze medalist in 1997 and 1999. Simon will run a record fifth Olympic Marathon in London in August.
Other Olympic-bound athletes in the field include the Netherlands' Hilda Kibet, the 2008 Mini and European Cross Country champion; Portugal's Jessica Augusto, the 2010 European Championships bronze medalist at 10,000m; Britain's Claire Hallissey, the top U.K. finisher at last April's Virgin London Marathon; Burundi's Diane Nukuri-Johnson, the Burundian national record holder for the marathon; and South Africa's Irvette Van Blerk, who will make her Olympic Games debut in the marathon this summer.
Returning to the Mini 40 years after winning it as a teenager will be Jacqueline Dixon. She was just 17 when she clocked 37:02 for the then-six mile course. Finishing behind her that day was Kathrine Switzer, who helped found the race with Fred Lebow and Nina Kuscsik. Switzer, 65, will be running this year's race.
"This is a whopper of an anniversary year for women," said Switzer through a media release. "It's the year of the first womens-only road race, the year we were first 'allowed' to run an official marathon, and the year the Title IX amendment was added to the Constitution; it was the year that changed everything! I'm so proud of this race, and of NYRR, who have kept it thriving through the years. The Mini 10-K continues to give women of all ages and abilities a forum to run, inspired by an elite field leading the way."
The full invited field follows with 10,000m or 10-K personal best times:
Last, First, National, PB:
Aliyu, Aziza, ETH, 32:22 (Rockville, 2011)
Amare, Shewarge Alene, ETH, 32:04 (Peachtree, 2010)
Augusto, Jessica, POR, 31:19.15 (Ostrava, 2010)
Barvanova, Ilona, UKR, 32:55 (Chiba Ekiden, 2003)
Burke, Betsy, USA, 36:13 (Healthy Kidney, 2011)
Burla, Serena, USA, 32:47.48 (Palo Alto, 2008)
Cummings, Sarah, USA, 33:55.91 (Mt. SAC/Walnut, 2010)
Dado, Firehiwot, ETH, 33:08 (Cleveland, 2010)
Davila, Desiree, USA, 31:37.14 (Eugene, 2011)
Deba, Buzunesh , ETH, 32:10 (Peachtree, 2010)
Dougherty, Ellen, USA, NA
Gurmu, Muliye, ETH, 35:19 (Healthy Kidney, 2009)
Hallissey, Claire, GBR, 32:36 (Bristol, 2011)
Higgins, Lesley, USA, 36:23 (Healthy Kidney, 2008)
Hullinger, Heidi, USA, 34:29.88 (Palo Alto, 2004)
Kibet, Hilda, NED, 30:51.92 (Utrecht, 2009)
Kiernan, Reilly, USA, 34:15 (Scotland Run, 2012)
Kiplagat, Edna, KEN, 31:18 (Peachtree, 2010)
Kiros, Aheza, ETH, 31:06.93 (Ostrava, 2008)
Lemberger, Sharon, USA, 34:52.64 (Harrisonburg, 1997)
Mandefro, Hirut, ETH, 33:03 (Rockville, 2009)
Marino, Amanda, USA, 33:47.63 (Big East Champs, 2010)
Ndereba, Catherine, KEN, 31:02 (Budapest, 2001)
Nukuri-Johnson, Diane, BDI, 32:44 (Cape Elizabeth, 2011)
Parker, Barbara, GBR, 34:10 (Dana Point, 2010)
Reed, Kate, GBR, 31:35.77 (Palo Alto, 2008)
Rothstein, Stephanie, USA, 32:40.67 (Palo Alto, 2012)
Scherf, Lindsey, USA, 32:51.20 (New York, 2005)
Simon, Lidia, ROU, 31:32.64 (Euro Champs, 1998)
Switzer, Kathrine, USA, NA
Tamsett, Lara, AUS, 32:01.60 (Palo Alto, 2012)
Van Blerk, Irvette, RSA, 32:50 (Durban, 2010)
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