Deena Kastor (USA) in New York (© Getty Images)
Olympic medallists Deena Kastor and Catherine Ndereba will return to the hills of Central Park in search of a victory at the NYRR New York Mini 10K on Sunday, 7 June.
An experienced field of American and international stars headline the 38th running of the world’s original women-only road race, which also features a solid supporting cast in Americans Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Amy Rudolph, and Sara Slattery and Japan’s Yuri Kano. Five Olympians are in the field: Kastor, Ndereba, Lewy Boulet, Rudolph, and South Africa’s René Kalmer.
Kastor, 36, of Mammoth Lakes, CA, has made a hot start to 2009 with victories in the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle in March and the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run in May. A three-time Olympian, Kastor was forced to drop out of the 2008 Olympic marathon at 5km with a broken foot. She took time off in the fall to heal, and now will be seeking her second NYRR New York Mini 10K title; she first won the race in 2004.
“I am so excited to be returning to New York for what is one of my favourite road races of the season,” Kastor said. “The Mini always attracts a great field of elite athletes as well as an empowered field of women ready to take on this challenging Central Park course. As usual, New York Road Runners has put together an impressive field so I’ll have my work cut out for me.”
Reigning World marathon champion Ndereba, 36, who represents Kenya and lives in Nairobi, is a two-time Olympic marathon silver medallist and a two-time World Champion in the marathon (2003 and 2007). One of the most celebrated female international road racers of all time, Ndereba returns to the hills of Central Park with an advantage as the two-time champion in the NYC Half-Marathon. Earlier this year, she finished seventh in the Flora London Marathon.
Lewy Boulet, 35, of Oakland, CA, will be competing in her fifth New York Mini, having narrowly missed the podium in 2008 with a fourth-place finish. The 2008 Olympian in the marathon returns to New York just over a month after her victory in the More Magazine | Fitness Magazine Half-Marathon in April. In January, Lewy Boulet won the USA Half-Marathon Championships, her first national title. A native of Poland, Lewy Boulet balances her professional running career while serving as a full-time assistant coach at the University of California at Berkeley and raising her 4-year-old son, Owen, with husband Richie Boulet, a former world-class miler.
Rudolph, 35, of Providence, RI, is a two-time Olympian in the 5000m. Slattery, 27, of Phoenix, AZ, was the 2007 Pan American Games gold medallist in the 10,000m.
Kano, 30, of Tokyo, is one of Japan’s top marathoners and road racers. Kalmer, 28, of Johannesburg, represented South Africa in the 1500m at the 2008 Olympic Games. Also entered is Kelly Jaske, 32, of Portland, OR, a Harvard-educated lawyer who just started running competitively; she was the runner-up to Lewy Boulet in the half-marathon championships.
NYRR
