In-form Brit is set to face Hellen Obiri, Molly Huddle, Senbere Teferi and Karoline Grøvdal in New York next week as Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo lead the men’s field
After breaking Paula Radcliffe’s long-standing British 10,000m record in California last weekend, Eilish McColgan’s next big race in the run-up to her marathon debut in London is the United Airlines NYC Half on March 19.
She will face Hellen Obiri, the former world cross-country champion and two-time Olympic medallist, plus three-time NYC Half winner Molly Huddle of the United States.
Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia, who holds the course record with 67:35, also runs, in addition to 2018 Boston Marathon champion Des Linden of the US and reigning European cross-country champion Karoline Bjerkeli-Grøvdal of Denmark.
McColgan’s British record is 66:26 from last year’s RAK Half, but Obiri’s best is 64:22 from the same RAK Half, Teferi ran 65:32 in Valencia in 2019 and Huddle has a best of 67:41 from 2016.
Obiri and McColgan clashed at the Great North Run in 2021 with the Kenyan breaking away in the latter stages to win by six seconds. But the Briton has been in terrific form lately with a 30:00.86 national record for 10,000m at the Sound Running Ten event in California.
Her marathon debut in London is set to take place on April 23 too.
Hellen Obiri (North News)
McColgan is among a number of Brits set to race in New York City too with others being Jess Warner-Judd, Chris Thompson and Andy Butchart. Warner-Judd ran a half-marathon PB of 67:19 in Houston in January and will be looking to revise those figures.
READ MORE: McColgan breaks Radcliffe’s record
The men’s field is headed by world 5000m and 10,000m record-holder Joshua Cheptegei and half-marathon world record-holder and recent world cross-country champion Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda.
American Galen Rupp, Olympic medallist in the 10,000m and marathon, is also set to compete on a day that will see 25,000 runners tackling a course that goes from Brooklyn to Manhattan, passing historic landmarks along the way before ending in Central Park.
The wheelchair race line-ups include Susannah Scaroni, Manuela Schär, Catherine Debrunner, Daniel Romanchuk and Britain’s JohnBoy Smith.
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