B.A.A. HALF MARATHON ELITE FIELD RELEASED
By Chris Lotsbom
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission

(05-Oct) -- The tenth edition of the B.A.A. Half-Marathon will host a small yet talented group of elite athletes for Boston's largest 13.1 mile (21.1 km) race on Sunday.  Both the men's and women's fields are highlighted by a number of Kenyans who will be making their Boston debuts.

On the men's side, Allan Kiprono will try to continue his successful 2010 season.  One of the newest Kenyans to make his mark on the elite road racing scene, the 20 year-old Kiprono has won the Run Gloucester! 7-Mile Road Race, placed second at the TD Bank Beach to Beacon Road Race in Maine, and finished tenth at the CIGNA Falmouth Road Race. Kiprono passed through the half-marathon checkpoint at the BIG 25-K in Berlin last May in 1:02:38.

Joining him on the starting line in Boston's Franklin Park will be Julius Kogo.  Kogo is also coming off a productive summer, winning and setting a new course record at the News and Sentinel Half-Marathon in West Virginia, and taking the top spot at the Crim Festival of Races 10 Mile race in Michigan. Kogo, who was originally brought to the United States by the Westchester Track Club, has a personal best half-marathon time of 1:02:20. 

Also of Kenya is John Korir, who has the fastest personal best in the field, a 1:00:47 performance in Milan in 2004. Korir's best performances of the year have been a pair of fourth place finishes at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile and the Lilac Bloomsday Run.   

Headlining the women's field is Caroline Rotich, also of Kenya.  Coming off of a sixth place finish in the ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon, where she ran 1:10:24, Rotich will be racing in preparation for next month's ING New York City Marathon.  Janet Cherobon, who boasts a personal best of 1:10:59, and Jane Kibii are also entered in the race.

This year's B.A.A. Half-Marathon will cover a new course which starts and finishes in Franklin Park and follows the city's "Emerald Necklace" park system.  The race finishes on the track in White Stadium.

ENDS