FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PAST CHAMPIONS, FAST NEWCOMERS
CHASE TEXAS' THIRD LARGEST MARATHON PRIZE PURSE
THE WOODLANDS, TX (February 26, 2016) – For Fidelity Investments The
Woodlands Marathon elite athlete coordinator Chris Strait, constructing a
quality elite field each year is akin to putting together a puzzle with
chess pieces.
"It's always a challenge to put together the fastest field possible," says
Strait, who is producing his third consecutive field of elite athletes for
the event. "The main objective, however, is to not only have a fast field,
but to also have a deep field." Money helps. And with the third largest
marathon prize purse in Texas for the 2015-2016 marathon cycle, including a
top prize of $3,000 for both male and female marathon winners, next
Saturday's race is once again drawing the same caliber of athlete that
produced the 25th fastest winning men's time in America last year.
Guaranteed money in the marathon and half marathon combined will total
$16,650 with an additional $6,900 available in marathon primes and race
record bonuses in both events.
"We have supported elite athletes since the return of The Woodlands
Marathon," Strait said. "The challenge from the foreign athlete's
perspective is obtaining their athletic travel visas.
"It is a process that takes a bit of back and forth between me, athletes
and agents as well as embassies in order to get the right documentation
together."
Strait says sometimes it doesn't always come together, but it is why he
also has a deep contact list too.
"We have had tremendous feedback year after year from our elites, and this
is why we have a good amount of returning athletes," he said. "There are so
many racing options each year and my aim is to have these elites put us on
their calendar every year."
New for 2016 is IAAF-AIMS course certification – only the fourth marathon
in Texas to obtain it, which allows competitors to use their times to meet
their country's standard to qualify for this year's summer Olympics in Rio
De Janeiro, Brazil – and drug testing per United States Anti-Doping Agency
(USADA) standards.
Defending champion Philip Lagat Chirchir, 32, is set to return, but the
likely favorite is fellow Kenyan, 32-year-old Robert Gaitho Gititu.
While Lagat was busy winning The Woodlands and Des Moines in 2:19:19 and
2:21:02 last March and October, Gititu won the Wels (Upper Austria) Half
Marathon in mid-March in a personal best time of 1:04:59 two months before
taking his marathon best to 2:14:37 while winning the 16th annual Green
Europe Marathon, which starts in Lipica, Slovenia and finishes in Trieste,
Italy.
The duo will be pushed by two recent additions to the field – also from
Kenya – in Mark Kipkosgei Chepses and Geoffrey Birgen Liprotich.
Chepses is the four-time winner of the Little Rock Marathon (2010-2014)
with wins in Richmond (2010), Knoxville (2014), Birmingham (2014) and last
year in Tallahassee in 2:19:11. The 39-year-old kicked off 2016 with a
2:28:58 victory last month in the Trinidad and Tobago International
Marathon.
Meanwhile, Birgen, 33, has posted eight marathon times of 2:22 or better in
the last two years including wins in Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka and most
recently in Jakarta, Indonesia last October where he recorded a personal
best of 2:17:43.
Ethiopian Hirut Beyene Guangul is the odds-on favorite in the women's
marathon. The 25-year-old earned over $23,000 in prize money last year,
including five of her nine career marathon wins. She won at the Buffalo
Marathon (2:39:01) in late May, Pike's Peak (Colorado) Marathon (4:29:09)
in mid-August, Quad Cities (Moline, IL) Marathon (2:39:10) in late
September and a pair at the Atlantic City Marathon (2:42:11) and the Anthem
Richmond (VA) Marathon (2:42:13) in mid-October and November, respectively.
Guangul's 2:34:03 PR is closely matched by fellow Ethiopian Demse
Alemtsehay Mesfin. The 30-year-old brings a 2:34:22 best and has been on
the podium in five of her last eight marathons, dating back to September
2013 where she was second in 2:35:18 at the Baden Marathon in Karlsruhe,
Germany.
Mesfin won $10,000 at the 2014 Jersualem International Marathon with a
2:47:24 effort and has a 2:49:37 victory to her credit at the Bangalore,
India Bengaluru Midnight Marathon in December 2014.
A late entry is 29-year-old Ethiopian Ayantu Dakebo Hailemaryam, who sports
a 2:33:59 best from her win at the 2014 Reims Marathon in France.
The battles for the titles of the newly-minted Houston Methodist The
Woodlands Half Marathon may come down to a select two or three.
Or make that a couple of Toos in the men's field – 22-year-old Nicholas
Kipngetich Too and 36-year-old Hillary Too. Both Kenyans and both had a
busy and successful 2015.
The younger Too was 4th in the RRCA National Half Marathon championship in
Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1:05:36 and 14th (49:33) in a very deep Crim
10-Miler field two weeks later in Michigan. These races set the table for a
pair of half marathons wins in Akron, Ohio (1:03:58) and Wichita, Kansas
(1:05:21) in September and October, respectively.
The older Too, who trains in the Research Triangle that includes Chapel
Hill, North Carolina, came to Texas and won the Cowtown Half Marathon – in
frigid conditions early last March - in 1:06:02 followed two weeks later
with another victory in the Tobacco Road Half Marathon – in 1:08:23 – in
Cary, North Carolina.
His personal best of 1:05:12 came one week later at the Anthem Half
Marathon in Richmond, Virginia where he was fourth and added 1:05:33 and
1:05:37 showings at the distance in April and November. Too was also second
and first, respectively, in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus
Marathon and the Anthem Richmond Marathon in 2:19:03 and 2:18:48.
Texas A&M's first individual champion – men's cross country -- in the SEC
three years ago, Henry Lelei, 26, winner of last December's BCS 2015 Half
Marathon in 1:06:49, shaved a minute off of that time to run 1:05:45 at the
Aramco Houston Half Marathon this January, finishing 35th overall.
The women's half marathon race was expected to be a rematch between two
ladies – 20-year-old Cynthia Jerop and 32-year-old Grace Kahura -- who went
1-2 here two years ago, but enter fellow Ethiopian Demse Tewabech Yemenu,
who's also 20 like Jerop.
Jerop owns the second best time in the event's four–year history with her
1:15:37 win – four minutes ahead of a distant Kahura – two years ago and
she won last year's Austin Marathon in 2:54:21 after catching fellow
countrywoman Hyvon Ngetich in the last quarter mile, who was widely
remembered for crawling the last 100 yards for a third-place finish.
With a 1:13:33 personal best, Jerop hopes to hold off Kahura who may be
primed to close the huge deficit from two years ago after a 1:14:24 PR and
fourth-place finish at the Philadelphia Half Marathon last November.
Yemenu sports a 1:14:31 PR, but most recently won the Pensacola Double
Bridge Run 15K in 52:16 – 13 seconds than Jerop had two years prior -- and
followed it up with a decisive 14-second 16:11 win at the Fort Myers (Fla.)
Festival of Lights 5K.
For more information about the Fidelity Investments The Woodlands Marathon,
please visit www.thewoodlandsmarathon.com.
About The Woodlands Marathon Management
The Woodlands Marathon Management is an event production company that
operates with a primary goal of providing individuals the opportunity to
participate in a running event that promotes the advancement of running.
The directors of The Woodlands Marathon Management share a passion for The
Woodlands community, the Houston region and the active sport lifestyle.
They have teamed up to produce this premier event that will provide The
Woodlands and surrounding communities options for living a healthy
lifestyle with purpose.
About The Woodlands
Located just 30 minutes north of Houston, Texas and minutes from George
Bush Intercontinental Airport, The Woodlands is an emerging destination for
leisure guests, individual business travelers and groups of all sizes.
Visitors to The Woodlands enjoy more than five million square feet of
world-class shopping, dining and entertainment options; more than 185 miles
of hike-and-bike trails; the 1,700-acre Mitchell Preserve; the Cynthia
Woods Mitchell Pavilion, one of the top five outdoor amphitheatres in the
world; kayaking on The Woodlands Waterway and Lake Woodlands; and 115
parks. The Woodlands features world-class golf and is home to more than
1,400 guestrooms in upscale and boutique properties, select service,
limited service, conference and convention centers and a resort. For more
information, go to www.visitthewoodlands.com.
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