Invited Athletes

Women

Aziza Aliyu
Ethiopia
Age: 23
Like many of her Westchester Track Club teammates, Aziza Aliyu is a Bronx transplant from Ethiopia who keeps getting faster. In 2008, she set a PR for 10K (32:43) in winning the Riker Danzig Newport 10,000 and set a women’s event record at the Healthy Kidney 10K. This year, she’s added three wins to her NYRR road-race hot streak, bringing the total to 12 victories since April 2007.

Emily Brown
United States
Age: 25
At this year’s U.S. Cross Country Championships in Derwood, MD, Brown took the lead near the halfway point and ran away to win by 32 seconds. She then demonstrated her range by finishing third at the 2009 USA 15K Championships in Jacksonville, FL, and she’ll try to extend that range even farther at the NYC Half-Marathon, which will be her debut at the distance.

Buzunesh Deba
Ethiopia
Age: 21
Deba placed eighth in the 2008 NYC Half-Marathon in 1:14:37. She’s already run four half-marathons in 2009, including a personal-best 1:13:13 at the 3M Half-Marathon in Austin, TX, and she’s won eight road races so far this year. Deba is married to Worku Beyi, the 2008 Feed Lebow NYRR Runner of the Year, who is also entered in the 2009 NYC Half.

Nadia Ejjafini
Bahrain
Age: 28
The Moroccan-born Ejjafini, who now represents Bahrain, has run in two IAAF World Championships marathons and five IAAF World Cross Country Championships races. She was fourth in the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships 5000 meters in 1998 and began a successful road racing career in 2003. A frequent podium finisher in Europe, she will be making her New York racing debut at the 2009 NYC Half.

Katarina Janosikova
Slovakia
Age: 28
Janosikova was a competitive duathlete in her native Slovakia. She moved to New York City in 2004 and became active on the local running scene. Last year, following a PR 1:18:31 half-marathon in September, she broke through with a 2:42:57 in her debut marathon in New York. She lowered her half-marathon PR to 1:16:21 in March. Janosikova is coached by New Zealand Olympian John Henwood, who’ll also be racing in the 2009 NYC Half-Marathon.

Kelly Jaske
United States
Age: 32
Running in one of her first professional races at age 32, Jaske was the runner-up at this year’s USA Half-Marathon Championships in a time of 1:12:06, defeating many of the country’s established distance stars. Jaske has a law degree from Harvard and did not run competitively in high school or college; she only started jogging to prepare for a backpacking trip. She was eighth at the NYRR New York Mini 10K in Central Park in June.

Anikó Kálovics
Hungary
Age: 31
A three-time Olympian, Kálovics is dangerous on all surfaces and at a wide variety of distances. Last year, she won three half-marathons and set the Hungarian record for 5K on the road. She’s been just as dominant this year, with five major European cross-country wins. With a 1:08:58 half-marathon personal best from 2007, Kálovics should be in the hunt for a podium finish in New York.

Deena Kastor
United States
Age: 36
Kastor is one of the greatest American distance runners of all time. The national marathon record-holder at 2:19:36, she qualified for her third U.S. Olympic team by winning the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon; she was forced to drop out of the Beijing Olympic Marathon with a broken bone in her foot. She was third in last year’s NYRR New York Mini 10K; she won the 2004 Mini in 31:44 just before the 2004 Olympic Games, where she took the bronze medal in the marathon. Kastor won the 2005 Chicago Marathon and the 2006 London Marathon.

Genoveva Jelagat Kigen
Kenya
Age: 28
With 10 podium finishes so far in 2009, including six victories, Kigen is having an amazing year. The wins include three half-marathons, and with a personal best of 1:09:42, she should be a factor in the NYC Half. In 2008, Kigen won two major American 10K road races—the Crescent City Classic and the Azalea Trail Run—on consecutive weekends, and in identical times of 32:11.

Rose Kosgei
Kenya
Age: 27
Kosgei’s last visit to New York City resulted in a victory at the NYRR New York Mini 10K. She’d gone on a tear in 2008, winning four major races and making the podium three more times, with high-quality performances at distances from one mile (4:23.9) to 12K (40:47). This year she has extended her range even farther, setting a half-marathon PR with a 1:09:03 victory in Prague. She won the IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championship in 1997.

Catherine Ndereba
Kenya
Defending Champion
Ndereba has won the NYC Half-Marathon twice (2006 and 2008). Known as “Catherine the Great,” she was the first woman to crack the 2:19 marathon barrier, in 2001. In 2003, she became the first African woman to win the World Championships Marathon, and she followed that with silver-medal marathon performances in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. She reclaimed her World Championships marathon title in 2007. Last year in Beijing, she took her second Olympic silver. She’s a four-time champion of the Boston Marathon and a two-time winner of the Chicago Marathon. Ndereba has an incredible all-time career record of 122 professional race victories on all surfaces (road, track, and cross country).

Heidi Westerling
United States
Age: 28
A frequent race winner in the Northeast, Westerling won two marathons in 2008 and set a personal best of 2:41:09 in Boston. She obliterated that time this year with her victorious 2:35:02 at the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon. Her win at the New Bedford Half-Marathon, in another personal best (1:11:35), makes Westerling look ready to take on the international stars in New York.

Paula Radcliffe
Great Britain
Age: 35
Radcliffe has run three of the 12 fastest half-marathons of all time, including her list-leading 1:05:40 victory at the 2003 Great North Run in England. She has won eight of the 10 marathons that she has started. Her marathon world record of 2:15:25, set in 2003, is more than three minutes faster than any other woman has ever run. Radcliffe is a three-time winner of the ING NewYork City Marathon; she has also won the London Marathon three times.