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The Vancouver Sun Run, April 15, 2007
Vancouver (April 13, 2007) - Will another Sun Run record be broken in 2007? Elite runners competing in Sunday's Sun Run will give it their all as they lead the record breaking number of registrants entered in Sunday's Sun Run. Here are some of the runners to watch who are expected to compete in the 2007 Sun Run Elite Division.
Solomon Tsige Asfaw from Ethiopia who finished 2nd in the 2007 Ethiopian Cross-Country Nations 12K and 7th in the highly competitive Crescent City Classic 10K in New Orleans in March will definitely be a strong contender for the 2007 Sun Run Men's title.
Some of the other runners on the men's side to keep an eye on will be Canadians Ryan Hayden of Richmond, BC who is the 2006 BC Cross Country Champion and placed 2nd in the 2006 National 10K Championships in Ottawa; Joel Bourgeois of Grande-Digue, New Brunswick, an Olympian in the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Games who placed 3rd in last year's Sun Run and Jerry Ziak of Vancouver who placed 4th in the 2006 Vancouver Sun Run and 3rd in both the 2006 Canadian National Cross Country Championships and Ottawa's 2006 National 10K Championships.
Sure to be one of the top contenders for the 2007 Sun Run Women's title is Teyiba Erkesso Wako of Ethiopia. She was a bronze medalist in the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships 4K race in Brussels, Belgium in 2004 and placed 1st in the 2006 8K Cross Country Race also in Brussels.
Also on the women's side, some of the runners to watch include Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Toronto, Aster Demissie of Edmonton and Lucy Smith of Victoria.
Lioudmila Kortchaguina placed 6th in the Women's Marathon at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and won the Women's Division in the 2006 Toronto Sporting Live 10K with a time of 32:22.
2003's Sun Run winner Aster Demissie, a 23-year-old Ethiopian who lives in Edmonton, will be back to try to claim another Sun Run title. Now a landed immigrant, she has lived in Canada since she competed for Ethiopia at the 2001 IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Edmonton. Her best road time of 32:30 at the National 10k Championships in Ottawa in 2003 would certainly put her in the mix.
Lucy Smith of Victoria is an eighteen time national champion in road and cross country running and track and field. A long time Sun Run competitor she has consistently ended up in the top 10 in the Sun Run Women's Division.
A complete list of elite athletes expected to compete in the 2007 Sun Run will be available on race day.
The Vancouver Sun Run is presented by HSBC Bank Canada. The race kicks off at 9 a.m. in downtown Vancouver. Athletes will compete for a prize purse of $21,000 with awards going to the top three male and female overall finishers, top five Canadian male and female finishers, and the top three overall masters male and female. Wheelchair athletes compete for a total prize purse of $2,000. For more information visit www.sunrun.com or call 604-689-9441.
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