Race Preview: NYRR New York Mini 10k
Posted June 6th, 2008 at 1:30 PM by Stephanie Lowe
Section: News & Results, Olympics, Road Racing
In preparation for the August 17 Beijing Olympic Marathon, all three members of the United States women’s team, Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet and Blake Russell, will race in the NYRR New York Mini 10k. The New York Road Runners event starts in Central Park this Saturday, June 7, at 9:00 a.m. Kastor, Lewy-Boulet and Russell will be joined by some of the world’s top female distance runners, including Aziza Aliyu of Ethiopia, Madaí Pérez of Mexico and Hilda Kibet of the Netherlands.
The New York Mini 10k is exclusively for women and offers prize money ranging from $1,500 to $10,000 for the top five finishers. The race also offers prize money to the top five U.S. athletes ($500 to $5,000) and allows double dipping, which means if an American wins, she will receive $15,000.
Without five-time champion Lornah Kiplagat in the field, Kastor, 35, who won in 2004, will have the odds in her favor for reclaiming the title. However, Kibet, 27, has been training with Kiplagat, her cousin, and recently ran 10000-meter times of 31:01 and 30:55.61.
Kastor has run similar times in the past, including an American record of 30:50.32 on the track, but she is not peaking for this race. She is in the middle of her marathon training, evidenced by her seventh-place finish at the Bolder Boulder 10k two weeks ago. That did not stop her from winning in 2004, however, followed by her bronze medal in the Athens Olympic Marathon.
Lewy-Boulet, 34, is a New York Mini 10k veteran. She ran the race in 2003, 2004 and 2006. This will be the first New York Mini 10k for Russell, 32.
This year marks the 36th anniversary of the historical race, which started in 1972 as the 6-mile Crazylegs Mini Marathon. It was originally named for its sponsor, Johnson’s Wax, a brand of shaving gel. Five years after Kathrine Switzer ran in the Boston Marathon, women’s running was on the rise. Switzer, along with Nina Kuscsik and New York Marathon co-director Fred Lebow, organized the event.
Since 1972, the New York Mini 10k has drawn some of the best fields of elite female runners ever assembled. Along with being highly competitive, the event is a celebration of women’s running at every level.
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Tags: 10k, aziza aliyu, blake russell, crazylegs, deena kastor, fre lebow, Hilda Kibet, Kathrine Switzer, Lornah Kiplagat, madai perez, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, new york mini 10k, new york road runners, Nina Kuscsik, nyrr, womens running
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