To help the New York Road Runners celebrate the move of the NYC Half-Marathon from the summer to the spring, course record holder Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia will compete in the March 21, event for the second time. He won the 2007 edition of the race from Central Park to Battery Park in blistering 59:24, on a warm and humid August day.
"Haile is a superstar, a legendary champion, and an ambassador for the sport, and we continue to be amazed by him," commented New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg through a news release. "To have him back for the second time for the NYC Half-Marathon is a great thrill and a win for this quickly growing event."
Gebrselassie, 36, and a two-time Olympic 10,000m gold medallist, will be in action tomorrow when he defends his crown at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, where he hopes to lower his marathon world record time of 2:03:59, set in 2008 at the real-, Berlin Marathon. He is a former world record holder at the half-marathon distance with a personal best time of 58:55. That mark still makes him the third-fastest half-marathoner of all time, and has broken the one-hour barrier five times during his illustrious career. In ten career half-marathons, he has only been defeated once.
His run in New York in March will mark Gebrselassie's first race in the United States since winning the NYC Half-Marathon in 2007.
"I'm very excited about going back to New York," Gebrselassie said in a prepared statement. "I got such a warm welcome when I ran the NYC Half-Marathon in 2007. I'm sure it will be a wonderful event again and I'm looking forward to it."
The NYC Half-Marathon is the richest half-marathon in the United States, with a $100,000 prize money purse and a $20,000 prize for the race winners. The New York Road Runners have already sold out the event, and expect over 10,000 finishers on race day. Last year's race, won by Tadese Tola and Paula Radcliffe, recorded 10,167 finishers.
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