ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
JÉSSICA AUGUSTO
Portugal
Age: 32
Date of Birth: November 8, 1981
Residence: Braga, Portugal
Personal Best: 1:09:08, South Shields, 2009
NYC Half History: 2011: 7th, 1:10:00
Career Highlights
2013 2012
2012
2012
Yokohama Women’s Marathon –
3rd – 2:29:11
London Olympic Marathon – 7th –
2:25:11
Virgin London Marathon – 8th -
2:24:59
Bupa Great North Run – 12th – 1:14:27
Augusto won the 2009 Bupa Great North Run
half-marathon in a personal-best 1:09:08 after
breaking away only three miles into the race.
She debuted at the marathon distance at the
2011 Virgin London Marathon, finishing eighth
(in one of the best fields ever assembled) in a
time of 2:24:33. She ran 2:25:11 in the 2012 London Olympic Games Marathon to finish seventh
overall, moving up 17 places over the second
half of the race.
The two-time Portuguese Olympian has worldclass track credentials, with PRs of 4:07.89 for
1500 meters and 14:37.07 for 5000 meters.
She ran in the heats of both the 3000-meter
steeplechase and the 5000 meters at the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games. In the IAAF World
Cross Country Championships, she finished
12th in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2007, and was 21st
in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2010. She has also
represented Portugal in four IAAF World
Outdoor Track and Field Championships, most
recently taking 10th at 10,000 meters in Daegu,
South Korea, in 2011.
2014
|
#NYC HALF YOLANDA CABALLERO
Colombia
Age: 32
Date of Birth: March 9, 1982
Residence: Bogotá, Colombia
Personal Best: 1:10:30, NYC Half, 2013
NYC Half History: 2013: 9th, 1:10:30;
2012: 25th, 1:14:46
Career Highlights
2013
2013
2013
2011
2011
New York City Marathon – 2:41:23 –19th
Boston Marathon– 2:35:10 – 14th
NYC Half – 1:10:30 – 9th
Boston Marathon– 2:26:17 – 8th
Pan-American Games 10,000m –
34:39.14 – 3rd
Caballero started her career on the track, but she
has found success since moving to the roads in
2011. She made her marathon debut at Boston
that year, and her 2:26:17 performance there is
the fastest time ever recorded by a South American woman. Caballero returned to the track that
summer to take third in the Pan-American Games
10,000 meters; the altitude of Guadalajara,
Mexico (over 5,000 feet) added some challenge
for most runners, but Caballero’s hometown,
Bogotá, Colombia, is above 8,500 feet. She set a
Colombian record at the 2013 NYC Half, running
1:10:30 for ninth place
15
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
BUZUNESH DEBA
Ethiopia
Age: 26
Date of Birth: September 8, 1987
Residence: Bronx, NY
Personal Best: 1:09:53, Philadelphia, 2011
NYC Half History: 2009: 5th, 1:13:17;
2008: 14th, 1:14:37
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon –2nd – 2:25:56
2013
Houston Marathon – 2nd – 2:24:26 2011
New York City Marathon – 2nd – 2:23:19
2011
Rock ’n’ Roll San Diego Marathon – 1st –
2:23:31
2011
Los Angeles Marathon – 1st – 2:26:34
2010
New York City Marathon – 10th – 2:29:55
2009 New York City Marathon –7th – 2:35:54
Unlike most of her fellow Ethiopian distance
runners, Deba lives and trains in New York City,
taking the subway from her home in the Bronx
to track workouts and doing long runs around
the circumference of Manhattan. She has won
eight of the 13 marathons she has entered, with
four of those losses coming in the New York City
Marathon—where, however, she has never failed
to make the top 10. That includes her down-tothe-wire runner-up finish in 2011 to her friend
and countrywoman Firehiwot Dado, and her
brave race in 2013, when she led from the start
until being passed by Priscah Jeptoo in the 24th
mile. Her 2011 time of 2:23:19 made her the fastest female New York resident in history.
16
KRISTA DUCHENE
Canada
Age: 37
Date of Birth: January 9, 1977
Residence: Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Personal Best: 1:10:52, Vancouver, 2013
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2013
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront
Marathon – 4th – 2:28:32
2013
Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon –
1st – 1:10:52
2013
Canadian Half-Marathon Champion-
ships – 1st – 1:12:27
2012
ABN AMRO Rotterdam Marathon –
7th – 2:32:06
At the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon
in October, Duchene ran faster than the old
Canadian marathon record and finished fourth
overall—but in third place was her fellow
Canadian Lanni Marchant. Duchene’s time,
2:28:32, was a personal best by more than three
and a half minutes. Only two months earlier, she’d
been forced to abandon the IAAF World Championships Marathon in Moscow, where the extreme
heat caused her to collapse after 12 kilometers.
Duchene, a mother of three, lives and trains in
Brantford, Ontario.
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
MOLLY HUDDLE
United States
Age: 29
Date of Birth: August 31, 1984
Residence: Providence, RI
Personal Best: Debut
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2013
US National Road Racing Champion-
ships (12K) – 1st – 37:49
2013
USA 5K Championships – 1st – 15:29.6
2013
IAAF World Championships 5000m –
6th – 15:05.73
2012
London Olympic 5000m – 11th – 15:20.29
2010
Diamond League Brussels 5000m –
10th – 14:44.76
Huddle, a New York native, set the American
record for 5000 meters in Brussels in 2011; her
14:44.76 shaved four-hundredths of a second off
Shalane Flanagan’s 2007 mark. She took second
at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 5000
meters and placed 11th in the final in London.
Last summer, she finished sixth in the 5000meter final at the IAAF World Championships
in Moscow. In September, Huddle defended her
USA 5K road title in her current hometown of
Providence, RI, for her third win there in four
years. In November, she won the NYRR Dash
to the Finish Line 5K, and two weeks later ran
a world-best 37:49 for 12K at the .US Championships. Huddle earned a bachelor’s degree in
biological sciences at the University of Notre
Dame and is married to Kurt Benninger, a Canadian who competed for Notre Dame at 1500 and
5000 meters. This will be her first-ever half-marathon.
2014
|
#NYC HALF HILDA KIBET
Netherlands
Age: 32
Date of Birth: March 27, 1981
Residence: Groet, Netherlands, and Iten, Kenya
Personal Best: 1:08:39, Ras Al Khaimah, 2010
NYC Half History: 2012: 4th, 1:09:42;
2007: 1st, 1:10:32
Career Highlights
2013
ABN AMRO Rotterdam Marathon –
3rd – 2:26:42
2012
London Olympic Marathon – 24th –
2:28:52
2011
ABN AMRO Rotterdam Marathon –
2nd – 2:24:27
2008 European Cross Country Champion-
ships (8K) – 1st – 27:45
2007 NYC Half – 1st – 1:10:32
The niece of distance-running great Lornah
Kiplagat, Kibet has been very successful on the
roads of the Big Apple: She won the 2007 NYC
Half, edging out defending champion Catherine
Ndereba by one second, and she returned to
win the 2008 NYRR New York Mini 10K. That
same year, she finished 15th in the Beijing Olympic 10,000 meters. In 2011, she ran a marathon
personal best of 2:24:27 for second place at the
Rotterdam Marathon. The following year, she
placed fourth in the NYC Half and third in the
Mini, then finished 24th in the London Olympic
Marathon. Born in Kenya, Kibet—whose longtime partner is Dutch marathoner Hugo Van den
Broek—became a Dutch citizen in October 2007.
17
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
CAROLINE KILEL
Kenya
Age: 32
Date of Birth: March 21, 1981
Residence: Bomet, Kenya
Personal Best: 1:08:16, Birmingham, 2009
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2013
BMW Frankfurt Marathon – 1st –
2:22:34
2011
Boston Marathon– 1st – 2:22:36
2011
New York City Marathon – 6th –
2:25:57
2009 IAAF World Half-Marathon Champion-
ships – 4th – 1:08:16
Kilel entered the World Marathon Majors circuit
in grand fashion, outsprinting fellow 2014 NYC
Half entrant Desiree Linden (née Davila) in
the final quarter-mile to win the 2011 Boston
Marathon. Her time of 2:22:36 was her personal
best until last October, when she ran 2:22:34 to
win the BMW Frankfurt Marathon in courserecord time. Her half-marathon personal best
came at the 2009 IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships, where she missed the podium
individually but helped Kenya earn the gold
medal in the team competition. Kilel will look to
win her second Boston Marathon title this April.
18
SALLY KIPYEGO
Kenya
Age: 28
Date of Birth: December 19, 1985
Residence: Eugene, OR
District, Kenya
Personal Best: Debut
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2012
London Olympic 10,000m – 2nd –
30:26.37
2012
London Olympic 5000m – 4th –
15:05.79
2011
IAAF World Championships 10,000m –
2nd – 30:50.04
2011
Zürich Diamond League 5000m –
2nd – 14:30.42
Kipyego took home the silver medal from the
2011 IAAF World Championships 10,000 meters,
then repeated the performance at the London
2012 Olympics—and added a fourth-place finish
in the 5000 meters seven days later. An injury
kept her from competing at the IAAF World
Championships last summer. Currently training
with the Oregon Track Club Elite, Kipyego graduated from Texas Tech University in 2009 with a
degree in nursing. As a Red Raider, she won nine
NCAA championships, including three consecutive titles in cross country. In her last trip to New
York City, she placed fourth at the NYRR Dash
to the Finish Line 5K, running 15:48; it was her
first race after 14 months lost to injury.
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
DESIREE LINDEN
United States
Age: 30
Date of Birth: July 26, 1983
Residence: Rochester Hills, MI
Personal Best: 1:10:34, Naples, FL, 2011
NYC Half History: 2012: 9th, 1:10:44
ADRIANA NELSON
United States
Age: 34
Date of Birth: January 31, 1980
Residence: Boulder, CO
Personal Best: 1:09:59, Lauwersoog, 2005
NYC Half History: 2013: 11th, 1:11:09
Career Highlights
2013
BMW Berlin Marathon – 5th –
2:29:15
Career Highlights
2012
2011
2010
2009
U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon –
2nd – 2:25:55
Boston Marathon – 2nd – 2:22:38
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
4th – 2:26:20
IAAF World Championships Marathon –
11th – 2:27:53
Linden, formerly Desiree Davila, bounced back
from injury to record a time of 2:29:15 at the
BMW Berlin Marathon in September, good for
fifth overall. The race was her first marathon finish since the U.S. Olympic Trials in January 2012,
in which she finished second and qualified for
the Games; in London, she was forced to drop
out near the five-kilometer mark with a femoral
stress fracture.
Now healthy, Linden has been training in Iten,
Kenya, to prepare for the 2014 Boston Marathon.
In the 2011 Boston race, she challenged fellow
NYC Half competitor Caroline Kilel down Boylston Street in an exciting back-and-forth sprint;
she settled for a close second in 2:22:38, the
fastest time ever run on the course by an American woman. She married competitive triathlete
Ryan Linden on August 24, 2013.
2014
|
#NYC HALF 2013
2013
2012
2008
2007
USA Half-Marathon Championships –
1st – 1:11:19
New York City Marathon – 13th – 2:35:05
IAAF World Half-Marathon Champion-
ships – 18th – 1:13:30
Virgin Money London Marathon –
10th – 2:28:52
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
2nd – 2:33:52
Nelson, née Adriana Pirtea, was born in
Bucharest, Romania, and came to the United
States to attend the University of Texas, El Paso,
where she was a 2005 NCAA All-American in
the 3000 meters indoors. Two years later, she
almost won her marathon debut in Chicago,
finishing second in 2:33:52. The next year, she
lowered her best time to 2:28:52 in London.
After several years of competitive marathon
running, including top-10 finishes in Berlin,
Chicago, and London, Nelson has shifted down
in distance in recent years. She became a United
States citizen in 2011 and ran a personal-best
32:38.95 to finish 14th in the 2012 U.S. Olympic
Trials 10,000 meters. She represented the United States at the 2012 IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships, where she ran 1:13:30 for 18th
place. In 2013, she ran her fastest half-marathon
since 2005—a 1:11:09 at the NYC Half—and was
the top American finisher at the New York City
Marathon.
19
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
DIANE NUKURI-JOHNSON
Burundi
Age: 29
Date of Birth: December 1, 1984
Residence: Iowa City, IA
Personal Best: 1:09:12, NYC Half, 2013
NYC Half History: 2013: 2nd, 1:09:12; 2012: 11th,
1:10:55
Career Highlights
2013
NYC Half – 2nd – 1:09:12
2013
New York City Marathon – 10th – 2:30:09
2012
London Olympic Marathon – 31st –
2:30:13
Nukuri-Johnson lives in the Hawkeye State but
competes for her homeland, the African nation
of Burundi, where she holds the national records
for 1500 meters, 5000 meters, 10,000 meters,
the half-marathon, and the marathon; she set the
Burundian half-marathon record of 1:09:12 at last
year’s NYC Half.
Nukuri-Johnson was 15 when she competed in
the 5000 meters at the 2000 Sydney Olympics;
she returned to the Games 12 years later in the
marathon, placing 31st in 2:30:13. One of eight
children, she left Burundi at age 16 after her father was killed there amid civil unrest. She sought
asylum at a Toronto track meet and lived with
a cousin in Canada before enrolling at a Kansas
junior college and starring at the University of
Iowa. She is married to Iowa native Alex Johnson
and is coached by the University of Iowa’s head
cross country and track and field coach, Layne
Anderson.
20
GEMMA STEEL
Great Britain
Age: 28
Date of Birth: November 12, 1985
Residence: Leicester, England
Personal Best: 1:10:19, Birmingham, UK, 2013
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2013
Bupa Great Birmingham Run
(half-marathon) – 1st – 1:10:19
2013
European Cross Country Champion-
ships (8K) – 2nd – 26:39
2012
IAAF World Half-Marathon Champion-
ships – 7th – 1:11:09
2011
European Cross Country Champion-
ships (8K) – 3rd – 26:04
Steel, the fourth-fastest British woman in history
over 10 kilometers, will run the NYC Half less
than a month after winning the English National
Cross Country Championships. Last October,
she broke her own course record to win the 2013
Bupa Great Birmingham Run, recording a new
half-marathon personal best of 1:10:19. Earlier
that year, her second-place finish at the European Cross Country Championships led Great
Britain to a gold medal in the team competition.
In her only other New York race, she made the
podium at the 2013 Oakley Mini 10K, finishing
third. After competing in her first-ever NYC Half
this March, Steel plans to make her marathon
debut in London in April.
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—WOMEN
´
LISA STUBLIC
Croatia
Age: 29
Date of Birth: May 18, 1984
Residence: Zagreb, Croatia
Personal Best: 1:09:18, NYC Half, 2013
NYC Half History: 2013: 3rd, 1:09:18
Career Highlights
2013
NYC Half – 3rd – 1:09:18
2013
Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country (6K) – 9th – 21:11
2012
European Cross Country Champion-
ships (8K) – 9th – 28:18
2012
London Olympic Marathon – 52nd –
2:34:03
Stublić was born in Waterbury, CT, but has
Croatian citizenship through her father, who
was born in the city of Sisak. She moved to
Croatia in 2008 and since then has set national
track records in the 3000-meter steeplechase
(10:09.56) and the 5000 meters (16:08.33). In
2012, she became the first Croatian in history to
compete in the Olympic marathon; she finished
52nd in London with a time of 2:34:03. The city
streets of the NYC Half course are familiar territory for Stublić: She ran for Columbia University
and earned All-American honors in cross country in 2005. She set the Croatian national record
in the half-marathon (1:09:18) at last year’s
NYC Half, where she stuck with the lead pack
throughout to finish third overall. She carried
that momentum to the Zürich Marathon in April,
where she won and broke her own national
record with a 2:25:44.
2014
|
#NYC HALF 21
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
JUAN LUIS BARRIOS
Mexico
Age: 30
Date of Birth: June 24, 1983
Residence: Mexico City, Mexico
Personal Best: 1:01:21, NYC Half, 2013
NYC Half History: 2013; 5th, 1:01:21
Career Highlights
2013
NYC Half – 5th – 1:01:21
2012
London Olympic 5000m –
8th – 13:45.30
2011
New York City Marathon –12th –
2:14:10
2008 Beijing Olympic 5000m – 7th –
13:19.79
A two-time Olympian for Mexico, Barrios placed
seventh in the 2008 Beijing Games 5000 meters, then placed eighth in that event four years
later in London. He has run in the IAAF World
Championships at 1500 meters (semifinals, Osaka 2007), 5000 meters (14th in the Osaka final),
and 10,000 meters (18th, Berlin 2009). Barrios,
who also has three Pan American Games medals
(two silvers, one gold) to his credit, began to
race longer distances in 2011. He made his marathon debut with a 2:14:20 at the Lala International Marathon 2011 in Torreón, Mexico, and
lowered his best by 10 seconds with a 2:14:10 in
the 2011 New York City Marathon. Last March, he
set a new half-marathon personal best (1:01:21)
to place fifth in the NYC Half.
22
KEVIN CHELIMO
Kenya
Age: 30
Date of Birth: February 14, 1983
Residence: Eugene, OR
Personal Best: 1:01:21, NYC Half, 2012
NYC Half History: 2013: 13th, 1:02:34;
2012: 6th, 1:01:21
Career Highlights
2013
NYC Half – 13th – 1:02:34
2012
NYC Half – 6th – 1:01:21
2012
Kenyan Olympic Trials 10,000m –
14th – 27:46.10
A native of Kabarnet, Kenya, Chelimo was a twotime NCAA Championships qualifier and earned
many All-Big XII honors while running for Texas
Tech University. There, he met his wife, Sally
Kipyego, the 2012 Olympic 10,000-meter silver
medalist, who will also run the 2014 NYC Half.
After he graduated, Chelimo remained in College
Station for a year as a volunteer assistant coach
for the Red Raiders, then joined the Oregon
Track Club Elite. Chelimo set new personal bests
last year in the mile, 3000 meters, and 5000
meters, and he competed in the 10,000 meters at
the Kenyan Olympic Trials. He made his half-marathon debut at the 2012 NYC Half, where he
finished sixth, and returned to place 13th in last
year’s race.
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
REID COOLSAET
Canada
Age: 34
Date of Birth: July 29, 1979
Residence: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Personal Best: 1:02:42, NYC Half, 2011
NYC Half History: 2011: 13th, 1:02:42
JEFFREY EGGLESTON
United States
Age: 29
Date of Birth: October 1, 1984
Residence: Boulder, CO
Personal Best: 1:03:00, Marugame, 2014
NYC Half History: 2009: 15th, 1:06:34
Career Highlights
2013
Fukuoka Marathon – 6th – 2:11:24
2012
London Olympic Marathon – 27th –
2:16:29
2011
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront
Marathon – 3rd – 2:10:54
2009 IAAF World Championships Marathon –
25th – 2:16:53
Career Highlights
Coolsaet comes to the NYC Half shortly after
spending a month in Kenya training at altitude.
The Canadian Olympian, scheduled to run the
Virgin Money London Marathon in April, had a
strong showing at the Fukuoka Marathon last
December. Originally from Hamilton, Ontario,
Coolsaet graduated from the University of Guelph
in 2003 and currently trains with the Speed River
Track and Field Club, a group originally founded
for Guelph student-athletes. His 2:10:55 marathon
personal best, set in Toronto, ranks him third on
Canada’s all-time list.
2014
|
#NYC HALF 2014
2013
2013
2012
Marugame Half-Marathon – 27th –
1:03:00
New York City Marathon – 14th –
2:16:35
IAAF World Championships Marathon –
13th – 2:14:23
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
16th – 2:12:03
Eggleston will run the NYC Half four months after finishing as the second American at the New
York City Marathon. His strong five-borough
run came a year after setting a personal best of
2:12:03 in Chicago. Originally from Greece, NY,
he attended the University of Virginia and currently lives and trains at altitude in Boulder, CO.
At the 2011 Pittsburgh Marathon, Eggleston was
hired as a pacesetter for 18 miles, but continued
past that mark to win the race in 2:16:40. He
finished 39th at the 2011 IAAF World Championships Marathon in Daegu, South Korea, and
more recently placed 13th in the 2013 IAAF
World Championships Marathon in Moscow.
23
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
MO FARAH
Great Britain
Age: 30
Date of Birth: March 23, 1983
Residence: London, England, and Portland, OR
Personal Best: 1:00:10, South Shields, 2013
NYC Half History: 2011: 1st, 1:00:24
ARNE GABIUS
Germany
Age: 32
Date of Birth: March 27, 1981
Residence: Stuttgart, Germany
Personal Best: Debut
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2013
IAAF World Championships 10,000m –
1st – 27:21.71
2013
IAAF World Championships 5000m –
1st – 13:26.98
2012
London Olympic 10,000m– 1st – 27:30.42
2012
London Olympic 5000m – 1st – 13:41.66
2011
IAAF World Championships 5000m – 1st – 13:23.36
2011
NYC Half – 1st – 1:00:24
Career Highlights
Farah has been unbeatable at major championships in recent years, winning gold medals in the
10,000 meters and 5000 meters at last year’s
IAAF World Championships in Moscow, as well
as at the 2012 London Olympics; he is only the
second man, after double world record-holder
Kenenisa Bekele, to hold all four global track
titles simultaneously. At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, he took home
gold in the 5000 meters and silver in the 10,000
meters. Prior to the 2013 Worlds, he broke the
European record for 1500 meters with a stunning 3:28.81 performance in Monaco. Farah won
the 2011 NYC Half and returns to the race this
year with little over a month remaining before
he’ll make his marathon debut in London. Born
in Somalia, Farah moved to Great Britain at
age eight; at age 30, now a father of three,
he was honored as a Commander of the Most
Excellent Order of the British Empire for his
services to athletics.
24
2013
2013
2012
2012
IAAF World Championships 5000m –
12th (semifinal) – 13:34.26
KBC Night of Athletics 5000m – 6th –
13:12.50
IAAF World Indoor Championships 3000m – 8th – 7:45.01
European Championships 5000m –
2nd – 13:31.83
Gabius, a consistent contender in 3000- and
5000-meter track races on the European circuit,
has trained in Tuscon, AZ, with Americans
Bernard Lagat and Abdi Abdirahman; he recently completed a training stint in Kenya. He has
won 11 German national championships, including a current string of seven at 5000 meters,
and he has represented his country at four
World Championships (two indoor and two outdoor) and at the 2012 London Olympic Games,
where he ran in a semifinal of the 5000 meters;
he was the 2011 European Championships silver
medalist in that event. The NYC Half will be his
debut at the distance and the longest race
of his professional career.
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
TESFAYE GIRMA
Ethiopia
Age: 31
Date of Birth: September 25, 1982
Residence: Bronx, NY
Personal Best: 1:00:35, NYC Half, 2011
NYC Half History: 2013: 11th, 1:02:06; 2011: 4th,
1:00:35; 2010: 10th, 1:03:12; 2009: 13th, 1:05:38
BRETT GOTCHER
United States
Age: 29
Date of Birth: September 1, 1984
Residence: La Selva Beach, CA
Personal Best: 1:02:09, Houston, 2009
NYC Half History: Debut
Career Highlights
2013
Brooklyn Half – 1st – 1:06:03
2013
NYC Half – 11th – 1:02:06
2011
NYC Half – 4th – 1:00:35
2010
Reims Marathon – 4th – 2:10:18
2012
2012
2012
2009
Girma, a member of the local West Side Runners
team, has run some great races in New York
City. He finished fourth at the 2012 UAE Healthy
Kidney 10K in Central Park among an elite international field after leading the race for more than
five miles. He set his half-marathon personal best
at the 2011 NYC Half, finishing 35 seconds over
the one-hour mark in fourth place behind winner
Mo Farah. After an 11th-place finish in last year’s
NYC Half, he won the Brooklyn Half in May.
2014
|
#NYC HALF Career Highlights
USA Half-Marathon Championships –
2nd – 1:02:49
USA 25K Championships – 4th –
1:16:14
U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon – 5th –
2:11:06
USA 20K Championships – 1st – 58:57
Gotcher has returned to the roads after missing
much of the 2013 season, looking to build upon
his success from 2012, which included a fifthplace finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon.
Houston, the site of the Trials race, was familiar
territory for Gotcher, who ran 2:10:36 there in
2010—the fourth-fastest debut marathon in
history by an American. In 2009, he represented Team USA at the IAAF World Cross Country
Championships and the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships; that same year, he won
his first national title at the USA 20K Championships in New Haven, CT. He is a 2007 graduate of Stanford University, where he was an
All-American in the 10,000 meters in 2006.
25
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
JASON HARTMANN
United States
Age: 32
Date of Birth: March 21, 1981
Residence: Boulder, CO
Personal Best: 1:01:51, NYC Half, 2013
NYC Half History: 2013: 9th, 1:01:51
Career
2013
2013
2012
Highlights
Boston Marathon – 4th – 2:12:12
NYC Half – 9th – 1:01:51
Boston Marathon – 4th – 2:14:31
Hartmann has finished fourth in the last two
Boston Marathons, both times by running his
own race and working through the field in the
late stages. He’s been first among Americans
both times. He prepped for lasts year’s Boston by running 1:01:51 in the NYC Half—good
for ninth place. Hartmann earned his B.A. in
education and sociology from the University of
Oregon, where he earned six All-America honors for the Ducks in cross country and track. He
has represented the United States at the IAAF
World Half-Marathon and World Cross Country Championships and at the Pan American
Games. He lives and trains in Boulder, CO.
MEB KEFLEZIGHI
United States
Age: 38
Date of Birth: May 5, 1975
Residence: San Diego, CA
Personal Best: 1:01:00, San Jose, 2009
NYC Half History: 2012: 13th, 1:01:41;
2011: 15th, 1:02:52; 2006: 2nd, 1:01:28
Career Highlights
2012
London Olympic Marathon – 4th – 2:11:06
2012
U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon – 1st –
2:09:08
2009 New York City Marathon – 1st –
2:09:15
2004 Athens Olympic Marathon – 2nd –
2:11:29
The 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist
lengthened his remarkable stay at the top of
the U.S. ranks when he won this year’s USA
Half-Marathon Championship. He placed fourth
in the London 2012 Olympic marathon after
earning his spot on Team USA with a win at
the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in January in
a personal-best 2:09:07. Keflezighi had run his
previous PR of 2:09:15 only 10 weeks earlier at
the New York City Marathon 2011, where he
took sixth; in 2009, he had become the first
American in 27 years to win that race.
Keflezighi was born in Eritrea in a village with
no electricity. His parents took their 11 children
out of the country when a war with Ethiopia
would have forced the boys into the military.
They eventually settled in San Diego, CA;
Keflezighi became a U.S. citizen in 1998,
and won four NCAA titles while at UCLA.
After graduation, he continued to train with
his college coach, Bob Larsen, and he set a
10,000-meter national record of 27:13.98 in
2001 that stood for nine years.
26
2014
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#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
WESLEY KORIR
Kenya
Age: 31
Date of Birth: November 15, 1982
Residence: Kitale, Kenya
Personal Best: 1:01:19, NYC Half, 2012
NYC Half History: 2012: 4th, 1:01:19
GEOFFREY MUTAI
Kenya
Age: 31
Date of Birth: October 7, 1981
Residence: Kapng’etuny, Kenya
Personal Best: 58:58, Ras Al Khaimah, 2013
NYC Half History: Debut
Career
2013
2013
2012
2012
2010
2009
Career Highlights
Highlights
New York City Marathon –9th – 2:11:34
Boston Marathon – 5th – 2:12:30
Boston Marathon – 1st – 2:12:40
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
5th – 2:06:13
Los Angeles Marathon – 1st – 2:09:19
Los Angeles Marathon – 1st – 2:08:24
The Kenyan-born, American-educated Korir,
who holds a BA in biology from the University
of Louisville, is one of the most engaging and
personable athletes in the sport. His athletic
accomplishments include two wins at the Los
Angeles Marathon and a victory at the scorching 2012 Boston Marathon, as well as a 2:06:13
personal best set in Chicago in 2012. But it’s
Korir’s activity away from running that truly
inspires. In 2010, he started the Kenyan Kids
Foundation to improve healthcare and education for children in his homeland; the organization has built and opened a new hospital in his
hometown of Kitale. Last winter, he was elected
to Kenya’s parliament, running on a platform of
eradicating poverty and fighting government
corruption. During his five-year term in office,
Korir and his Canadian wife, Tarah, and their
children are living in Kenya full-time.
2014
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#NYC HALF 2013
2013
2012
2011
2011
New York City Marathon – 1st – 2:08:24
Udine Half-Marathon – 1st – 59:06
BMW Berlin Marathon – 1st – 2:04:15
Boston Marathon– 1st – 2:03:02
New York City Marathon – 1st – 2:05:06
In the 2011 Boston Marathon, Mutai outsprinted
Moses Mosop on Boylston Street to win by four
seconds. Their times turned the marathoning
world on its head: Mutai’s 2:03:02 was nearly
a full minute faster than Haile Gebrselassie’s then–world record of 2:03:59, set on the
ultra-fast Berlin course. But although Boston’s
course is famously hilly, it’s also point-to-point,
which disqualifies the race for record purposes. Mutai cleared up any confusion about his
abilities six months later, when he shattered the
course record at the 2011 New York City Marathon, winning the race by more than two and
a half minutes. When he won the 2012 BMW
Berlin Marathon, he became the only active
male runner to have won three of the World
Marathon Majors. This past November, Mutai
became the sixth man in history to successfully
defend a New York City Marathon title.
27
ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
LUKE PUSKEDRA
United States
Age: 24
Date of Birth: February 8, 1990
Residence: Beaverton, OR
Personal Best: 1:01:36, Houston, 2012
NYC Half History: Debut
STEPHEN SAMBU
Kenya
Age: 25
Date of Birth: July 7, 1988
Residence: Tucson, AZ
Personal Best: 1:00:41, Boston, 2013
NYC Half History: 2013: 7th, 1:01:34
Career
2014
2014
2012
2012
2012
2012
Career Highlights
Highlights
USA Half-Marathon Championships –
6th – 1:01:48
USA Cross Country Championships (12K) – 2nd – 36:39
Aramco Houston Half-Marathon –
4th – 1:01:36
IAAF World Half-Marathon Champion-
ships – 17th – 1:02:46
U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000m – 8th –
27:56.62
USA 20K Championships – 2nd –
58:48
In the two years since he graduated from the
University of Oregon, Puskedra has put together a remarkable record on the roads, especially
at the half-marathon distance. He ran his personal best, 1:01:36, to take fourth in the Aramco
Houston Half-Marathon in 2012, and returned
to that race in January of this year, where he
placed sixth in 1:01:48. He represented the
United States at the IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships in 2012, finishing 17th; he was
the runner-up at the 2014 USA Cross Country
Championships in Boulder, CO, in February. The
6-foot-4 Puskedra, originally from Salt Lake
City, UT, currently trains with the Nike Oregon
Project in Eugene.
28
2013
2013
2013
2012
2012
B.A.A. Half-Marathon – 3rd – 1:00:41
NYC Half – 7th – 1:01:34
UAE Healthy Kidney 10K – 3rd – 28:02
Millrose Games 5000m – 3rd – 13:13.74
NCAA Cross Country Championships (10K) – 2nd – 28:09.52
Sambu lowered his half-marathon personal
best by nearly two and a half minutes in 2013
with a 1:01:34 at the NYC Half in March, then
chopped off nearly another minute with a
1:00:41 at the B.A.A. Half-Marathon in Boston in
October. His time in that race, combined with
his performances at April’s B.A.A. 5K (13:47)
and June’s B.A.A. 10K (28:06), gave Sambu
the overall victory in the 2013 B.A.A. Distance
Medley, which earned him a $100,000 prize. A
graduate of the University of Arizona, he now
lives and trains in Tuscon, AZ.
2014
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#NYC HALF ATHLETES: RUNNER PROFILES—MEN
MATT TEGENKAMP
United States
Age: 32
Date of Birth: January 19, 1982
Residence: Portland, OR
Personal Best: Debut
NYC Half History: Debut
Career
2013
2012
2012
2008
2007
2007
Highlights
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
10th – 2:12:39
London Olympic 10,000m – 19th – 28:18.26
USA 20K Championships – 1st – 58:30
Beijing Olympic 5000m –13th – 13:33.13
IAAF World Championships 5000m –
4th – 13:46.78
Prefontaine Classic Two-Mile –
3rd – 8:07.07
Tegenkamp made his marathon debut last
fall, running 2:12:39 for 10th place at the Bank
of America Chicago Marathon. The move up
in distance came after a number of years at
the top of the U.S. ranks in the 5000 meters,
including a 12:58.56 performance in 2009 that
made him the sixth non-African to break the
13-minute mark. He holds the American record
for two miles at 8:07.07, which he ran in 2007.
That same season, he was fourth in the IAAF
World Championships 5000 meters, missing
the bronze medal by three-hundredths of a
second. Tegenkamp, who hails from Lee’s
Summit, MO, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, currently lives and trains in
Portland, OR, under former Wisconsin coach
Jerry Schumacher.
2014
|
#NYC HALF 29
ATHLETES: WHEELER PROFILES—WOMEN
AMANDA MCGRORY
United States
Age: 27
Date of Birth: June 9, 1986
Residence: Savoy, IL
Personal Best: 50:47, Illinois, 2013
SHIRLEY REILLY
United States
Age: 28
Date of Birth: May 29, 1985
Residence: Tuscon, AZ
Personal Best: 53:47, Oro Valley, AZ, 2014
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon – 4th – 2:05:06
2013
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
3rd – 1:42:55
2013
Virgin Money London Marathon –
2nd – 1:46:04
2013
Boston Marathon – 3rd – 1:49:19
2013
IPC World Championships Marathon –
4th – 1:51:46
2011
New York City Marathon –1st – 1:50:24
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon – 7th – 2:11:10
McGrory won the 2011 New York City Marathon,
breaking the course record by more than two
and a half minutes. She also won her debut
New York City Marathon in 2006, and she has
finished in the top three in New York five times.
McGrory is a four-time Paralympic medalist and
the 2011 World Championships marathon bronze
medalist. Her personal record for the half-marathon is 50:47, set at the 2013 Illinois Half-Marathon. She is a three-time winner and the course
record-holder at both the Atlanta Half-Marathon
and the Illinois Half-Marathon. McGrory is one
of many top wheelers who are current or former
members of the powerhouse track and field
team at the University of Illinois, where she also
played basketball for the three-time national
champion Illini.
Reilly won the 2012 Boston Marathon in a personal-best time of 1:37:36, then finished fourth at the
London Marathon a week later. She competed in
both races again in 2013, finishing fourth in Boston on April 15 and sixth in London on April 21.
She was a member of the 2004, 2008, and 2012
U.S. Paralympic teams; in London, she was the
marathon gold medalist, the 5000-meter silver
medalist, and the 1500-meter bronze medalist. In
2013, she was nominated for the ESPY Award for
Best Female Athlete with Disabilities.
30
2013
2013
2012
2012
2012
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
4th – 1:49:30
IPC World Championships 5000m –
7th – 12:10.65
Boston Marathon – 1st – 1:37:36
London Paralympic Marathon –
1st – 1:46:33
Los Angeles Marathon – 1st – 1:57:09
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: WHEELER PROFILES—WOMEN
DIANE ROY
Canada
Age: 43
Date of Birth: January 9, 1971
Residence: Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Personal Best: 51:11, South Shields, 2009
SUSANNAH SCARONI
United States
Age: 22
Date of Birth: May 16, 1991
Residence: Champaign, IL
Personal Best: 53:52, Indianapolis, 2013
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon – 10th – 2:25:40
2013
Boston Marathon – 7th – 1:59:37
2012
Boston Marathon – 3rd – 1:42:37
2012
Virgin London Marathon – 3rd – 1:53:05
2008 Beijing Paralympic 5000m – 2nd – 12:29.08
2006 IPC World Championships Marathon –
1st – 1:44:23
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon – 5th – 2:05:07
The Canadian came through on a very big
stage when she won an invitational 800-meter
wheelchair race at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. At that year’s
IPC World Championships, Roy took silver at
1500 meters and bronze at 5000. In 2010, she
notched a pair of runner-up marathon finishes in
a span of eight days, taking second in Paris and
Boston, after a hat-trick of marathon podium
finishes at Paris, Boston, and London in 2009.
In a bizarre turn of events at the 2008 Paralympics, Roy won the 5000 meters but was forced
to give up the gold medal when the race was annulled because of a crash in the final laps. In the
re-run of the race four days later, Roy earned
silver, her fifth career Paralympic medal. At the
2012 London Paralympics, she competed in
every women’s distance event from 400 meters
through the marathon.
2014
|
#NYC HALF 2013
2013
2013
2013
2012
Twin Cities Marathon – 1st – 1:54:37
ASICS LA Marathon – 1st – 1:54:39
Grandma’s Marathon – 2nd – 1:42:45
Bolder Boulder 10K – 1st – 26:06
London Paralympic Marathon – 8th –
1:58:37
Only 22 years old, Scaroni has made a name
for herself quickly by winning the Bolder Boulder 10K, the ASICS LA Marathon, and the Twin
Cities Marathon, all in 2013. Raised in Tekoa, WA,
Scaroni is a student at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, studying food science
and human nutrition and training in the school’s
highly successful wheelchair athletics program.
Scaroni, a 2012 London Paralympian, set her
half-marathon personal best at the OneAmerica
500 Festival Mini-Marathon last year in Indianapolis, IN, winning in 53:52.
31
ATHLETES: WHEELER PROFILES—MEN
ADAM BLEAKNEY
United States
Age: 38
Date of Birth: August 27, 1975
Residence: Savoy, IL
Personal Best: 47:45, Indianapolis, 2012
JOSH GEORGE
United States
Age: 29
Date of Birth: March 18, 1984
Residence: Fairfax, VA
Personal Best: 47:45, Indianapolis, 2012
Career Highlights
2012
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
2nd – 1:34:23
2011
New York City Marathon –11th – 1:42:31
2004 Athens Paralympic 800m – 2nd – 1:38.71
2003 New York City Marathon –8th – 1:47:23
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon – 10th – 1:46:43
Bleakney remains an active competitor while
also serving as the full-time head coach of the
prestigious and prodigious University of Illinois
track and field and road racing wheelchair team;
members of the team won 12 gold medals at the
IPC Athletics World Championships last summer. Bleakney finished second behind fellow
2014 NYC Half entrant Josh George at the 2012
OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon with
a time of 47:45, and he was third last year in
49:08. He was second at the Bank of America
Chicago Marathon in 2012, and finished 17th in
last November’s New York City Marathon. Bleakney was paralyzed after a crash in a mountain
biking race in 1995; just five years later, he competed in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
2013
2013
2013
2012
2012
2011
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
3rd – 1:30:38
Twin Cities Marathon – 1st – 1:37:08
IPC World Championships Marathon –
5th – 1:32:28
Grandma’s Marathon – 1st – 1:22:55
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
3rd – 1:36:06
New York City Marathon – 7th – 1:39:02
George won the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2003, 2004, and 2006; he finished third
there in 2011, 2012, and last year. George was
profiled in the New York Times on May 15, 2008,
when he had set world records at 100, 400,
and 800 meters before age 25. He competed in
seven track and field events at the 2008 Beijing
Paralympics and six at the 2012 London Paralympics, where he was the 800-meter bronze medalist. He won that event at the 2013 IPC World
Championships in Lyon, France.
George suffered permanent paralysis when he
fell from a 12th-floor window at the age of four.
He weighs 98 pounds, but he can bench-press
220 pounds. In 2007, George graduated from the
University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.
His personal best in the half-marathon came at the
Indy 500 Half in May 2012, which he won in 47:45.
32
2014
|
#NYC HALF ATHLETES: WHEELER PROFILES—MEN
KRIGE SCHABORT
United States
Age: 50
Date of Birth: September 9, 1963
Residence: Cedartown, GA
Personal Best: 45:59, Indianapolis, 2013
Career Highlights
2013
New York City Marathon – 6th – 1:42:25
2013
Bank of America Chicago Marathon –
8th – 1:35:21
2012
Los Angeles Marathon – 1st – 1:39:53
2012
Virgin Money London Marathon –
3rd – 1:32:28
2012
London Paralympic Marathon – 10th –
1:33:05
2011
Los Angeles Marathon – 1st – 1:33:15
Schabort was a soldier in the South African
army before a bomb explosion took his legs in
Angola in 1987; he began to race wheelchairs in
1989. One of the most successful athletes in the
sport’s history, Schabort has notched marathon
victories in Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh,
Detroit, New York City (2002 and 2003), and
Honolulu an astounding seven times. His runner-up finish to Kurt Fearnley in the 2009 New
York City Marathon was the closest in the race’s
history, with both athletes being given the same
finish time and Fearnley winning by mere inches.
Schabort was on the South African Paralympic
Team in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004, and he
took the bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona
Paralympic Marathon. He improved to the silver
medal eight years later in Sydney. Now a United
States citizen, Schabort lives in Georgia with his
wife and three children, and he gives inspirational speeches in schools and hospitals.
2014
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#NYC HALF 33