FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Former Champion Wilson Kipsang and Two-Time Runner-Up Bronx Resident
Buzunesh Deba Added to Professional Athlete Field for
2017 TCS New York City Marathon
Professional athlete field to include 12 past champions, 22 Olympians, and
20 Paralympians from 29 different countries
New York, October 10, 2017 — Former champion Wilson Kipsang of Kenya and
two-time runner-up Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia, who trains in the Bronx, have
been added to the professional athlete field for the 2017 TCS New York City
Marathon on Sunday, November 5.
Kipsang and Deba will join a previously announced professional athlete
field that represents 29 different countries and now includes 12 past
champions, 22 Olympians, and 20 Paralympians. They will toe the line with
defending champions Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea and Mary Keitany of
Kenya, along with Americans and NYRR Team for Kids Ambassadors Meb
Keflezighi, who will be running the 26th and final marathon of his career,
and Shalane Flanagan, who will be returning to the race for the first time
since her runner-up finish in 2010.
"We are thrilled to welcome back Wilson and Buzunesh to the TCS New York
City Marathon, where they have both had great success before," said Peter
Ciaccia, president of events for New York Road Runners and race director of
the TCS New York City Marathon. "An already talented professional athlete
field just became stronger, as both Wilson and Buzunesh will challenge for
podium positions. It will be great for the millions of fans watching in New
York City and around the world to see these two world-class runners take to
the five-borough course, particularly Buzunesh, who trains here in the
Bronx, the borough where New York Road Runners was founded."
Kispang, 35, of Kenya won the TCS New York City Marathon in 2014 in his
debut on the five-borough course, taking the tape in 2:10:59, just seven
seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa. He went on to claim the World
Marathon Majors title that year. Already in 2017, Kipsang has set a new
Tokyo Marathon course record of 2:03:58 with his first-place finish in
February. Kipsang previously held the marathon world record of 2:03:23,
which he ran at the 2013 BMW Berlin Marathon, until Dennis Kimetto broke it
at the same event the following year. The 2012 London Olympic Marathon
bronze medalist has run under 2:05 eight times, the most of any runner in
history.
"My training was excellent before Berlin, but I had a bad day there,"
Kipsang said. "Now, I am very happy and thankful I was given a chance to
use my training effort in New York City, and will try to win there as I did
three years ago."
Deba, 30, of Ethiopia trains in the Bronx and was the New York City
Marathon runner-up in 2011 and 2013. She won the Boston Marathon in 2014,
setting the course record of 2:19:59, and is a nine-time marathon champion
on U.S. soil, having recorded a career-high four wins in 2010. She also
holds victories in the California International Marathon, Rock ‘n’ Roll San
Diego Marathon, Los Angeles Marathon, Grandma’s Marathon and Twin Cities
Marathon.
"I love racing in New York because New York is my city," Deba said. "I will
do my very best at the TCS New York City Marathon not just for myself, but
also for the people of Bronx where I live. I know they will be cheering for
me from everywhere. If I don't win this year, I believe in myself; I will
win the TCS New York City Marathon one day."
Six professional athletes have scratched from the race since the original
announcement of the field: Esther Atkins, Dailin Belmonte, Neely Gracey,
Tara Welling, and Hiroyuki Yamamoto in the open division and Aaron Pike in
the wheelchair division.
The full professional athlete field for the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon
can be found HERE.
The 2017 TCS New York City Marathon will offer a total guaranteed prize
purse of $825,000 – with potential time bonuses – with the wheelchair
division prize purse increasing by 25 percent this year to become the
largest wheelchair prize purse of any marathon in the world. The men’s and
women’s open division winners will once again receive $100,000 each, while
the first-place finishers in the wheelchair division will now receive
$20,000. The USA prize purse for the open division will total $116,000,
with the men’s and women’s winners each receiving $25,000.
The 2017 TCS New York City Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon
Majors, which is made up of the world’s six largest and most renowned road
races – the Tokyo, Boston, Virgin Money London, BMW Berlin, Bank of America
Chicago and TCS New York City Marathons. The current series also includes
the IAAF World Championship Marathon. Points are allocated to the top five
finishers in each race.
The 2017 TCS New York City Marathon will be televised live on Sunday,
November 5, on WABC-TV, Channel 7 in the New York tristate area from 9:00
a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET, and for the rest of the nation on ESPN2 from 9:00
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.
About the TCS New York City Marathon
The TCS New York City Marathon is the premier event of New York Road
Runners (NYRR) and the largest marathon in the world. Over 1,000,000 people
have finished the race since its first running in 1970 with just 127
entrants and 55 finishers running four laps around Central Park. The race
expanded to all five boroughs in 1976 and just celebrated its 40th year as
a five-borough affair. Held annually on the first Sunday of November, the
race features over 50,000 runners including the world’s top professional
athletes and a vast range of competitive, recreational, and charity
runners. Participants from approximately 125 countries tour the city,
starting on Staten Island at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and
running through the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx before
ending in Manhattan. The NYRR Youth Invitational at the TCS New York City
Marathon covered 1.8 miles of the race course in Central Park, beginning
near mile 24 and finishing at the famed TCS New York City Marathon finish
line. More than one million spectators and thousands of volunteers line the
city streets in support of the runners, while millions more watch the
television broadcast in 175 countries and territories, including viewers in
the New York area on WABC-TV, Channel 7, nationally on ESPN2, and via
various international broadcast partners. The race is part of the Abbott
World Marathon Majors, which features the world’s top marathons—Tokyo,
Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York—and crowns the top
professional male and female marathoners each year. Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting, and business
solutions organization, is the premier partner of NYRR and the title
sponsor of the TCS New York City Marathon. The 47th running of the TCS New
York City Marathon is set for November 5, 2017. To learn more, visit
www.tcsnycmarathon.org.
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