Posted: February 15, 2007

Athletics: Johnson To Run Berlin Half-Marathon

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Photo: Benita Johnson winning the Sanyo Women's Road Race in Japan in 2006 (Photo courtesy of Brendan Reilly) One of the southern hemisphere's top runners, Benita Johnson of Australia, will run in the 27th Vattenfall Berlin Half-Marathon on April 1, organizers announced today. "We are happy to have signed Benita Johnson, a true world-class runner, for the Vattenfall Berlin Half-Marathon," said race director Mark Milde, who also directs the Berlin Marathon, part of the World Marathon Majors series. "We are at present negotiating with managers of other elite runners and hope to be able to present a strong elite field again." The Berlin course is flat and fast. The course record is 1:07:16 set by Kenyan Edith Masai last year, and in the history of the race the 70-minute barrier has been broken by women seven times. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest