Lagat, Rowbury to compete at Fifth Avenue Mile
2008 Olympic Trials winners Bernard Lagat and Shannon Rowbury will each make their debut appearance Sunday at the 28th Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City.
The reigning men's World Outdoor 1,500m and 5,000m champion and six-time Millrose Games Wanamaker Mile winner, Lagat will close out his 2008 campaign by trying to become only the second man ever to win the Fifth Avenue and Wanamaker Miles in the same year. Isaac Viciosa of Spain first accomplished the feat in 1997. Lagat won the 3,000 meters last weekend at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany
Shannon Rowbury will be one of the favorites in the women's race as she brings to a close a breakthrough 2008 campaign. Earlier this year Rowbury won the USA Indoor 3,000m title in Boston prior to winning the 1,500m at the adidas Track Classic on May 18 in four minutes, 1.61 seconds, which made her the #5 performer in that event in U.S. history. Rowbury improved on that performance with her time of 4:00.33 from her July 18 runner-up finish in Paris, which is the sixth-fastest performance in the world in 2008.
Rowbury's third-place finish in the mile September 7 in Rieti, Italy, in 4:20.34, is the third-fastest time in the world this year and makes her the #2 women's mile performer in U.S. history, second only to National Track & Field Hall of Famer Mary Slaney.
Others to watch on Sunday include U.S. Olympic Trials men's 800m champion Nick Symmonds, 2006 Fifth Avenue winner Kevin Sullivan of Canada, and Olympic 1,500-meter bronze medalist Nick Willis of New Zealand. In the women's race, Rowbury's Beijing Olympics teammate Erin Donohue and Great Britain's Lisa Dobriskey (the 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medalist in the 1,500m) will strive for top honors.
The women's race will start at 12:45 p.m., with the men's race getting the gun at 1:05 p.m. For more information on the 2008 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, visit: NYRR.org.
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
