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Olympic Silver Medalist Catherine Ndereba to Run the ING New York City Marathon 2006

2006-08-16

The world’s second-fastest female marathoner, 2003 World Champion, and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Catherine Ndereba will make her third appearance in the ING New York City Marathon on November 5, 2006, it was announced today by ING New York City Marathon race director and New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. The Kenya native will attempt to win her first title in New York after second-place finishes in 1999 and 2003.

 
“Catherine may well be the most feared runner in the women’s field,” said Wittenberg. “She is a one-time world record-holder, Olympic and World Championships medalist, four-time Boston champion, and two-time Chicago champion. None of our top women have beaten her in a marathon. No one else in the field can say that.”

 
Ndereba, 34, has six career victories at two World Marathon Majors series events, having won the BAA Boston Marathon four times (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005) and the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon twice (2000, 2001). Her 2:18:47 finish in Chicago in 2001 made her the first woman to break the 2:19 mark, and she remains the second-fastest female marathoner of all time behind Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25). Ndereba became the first African woman to win the IAAF World Championships Marathon in 2003 and won the silver medal in 2005. In 2004, she won the Olympic marathon silver medal in Athens behind Japan’s Mizuki Noguchi. The bronze medalist in that race, American marathon record-holder Deena Kastor, is also running the ING New York City Marathon 2006, as is last year’s champion, Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia.

 
“It means a lot to me to go to the ING New York City Marathon,” said Ndereba. “I’ve been second there twice and not won it yet, so if I can win this year, it will achieve one of my unfulfilled goals and add another feather in my cap.”

 
In her ING New York City Marathon debut in 1999, Ndereba posted a time of 2:27:34, finishing second behind Adriana Fernandez of Mexico (2:25:06). Four years later, Ndereba returned to New York and was once again the runner-up, this time to countrywoman Margaret Okayo. Okayo’s time, 2:22:31, is the still-standing ING New York City Marathon course record, and Ndereba’s 2:23:03 remains the second-fastest women’s time in the race’s history.