Obiri confirms participation at New York Marathon, eyes first title in a full marathon race
Two-time world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri has confirmed participation in this year’s United Airlines NewYork City half marathon slated for March 19 in the United States ofAmerica.
Obiri has been announced as one of theelite runners in the women’s list for the half marathon alongside defending champion Senberi Teferi and three-time event champion Molly Huddle among others.
“I’m very excited to be among theelite runners and I know New York is a tough course, but I hope myexperience on track, road, and cross-country will help me navigatethe ups and downs,” Obiri said.
Last weekend Obiri stormed tovictory during the 16th edition of Ras Al Khaimah in the United ArabEmirates after timing 1:05:05 ahead of Ethiopians Gotytom Gebreslasewho clocked 1:05:51 and Ftaw Zeray (1:06:04) who settled for secondand third positions respectively.
Last year, Obiri started her seasonwith second place at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in February before winning Istanbul Half Marathon in March. She then went aheadto compete at the World Championships in Oregon, USA in a 10,000m racewhere she settled for a silver medal in a race won by Ethiopia’sLetesenbet Gidey.Obiri then competed at the New YorkMarathon where she finished in sixth position clocking 2:25:49 in arace won by Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi in 2:23:23.
Huddle will be racingthe United Airlines NYC Half for the first time since taking herthird consecutive victory in the event in 2017.
Huddle won the racein 2015, 2016, and 2017, with her winning time of 1:07:41 from 2016setting an event record that stood until last year. The former American record-holder in the half marathon was fifth at the HoustonHalf Marathon in January, nine months after giving birth to her daughter.”In a lot of ways, my three-straight wins at the United Airlines NYC Half really began my transition to full-time road racing. I’m excited to return to therace for the first time in six years, with a different mindsettowards training and racing since the birth of my daughter,” Huddlesaid.
“I’m inspired to teach her the value of hard work and resilience, and where better to do that than the city that has seensome of my career’s greatest successes?” Teferi, who last year brokeHuddle’s event record, finishing in a time of 1:07:35 to win the race, and returned to Central Park three months later to win herfirst Mastercard New York Mini 10K. She is also a two-time WorldChampionships silver medalist and the 5K world record holder for awomen-only race.
