NYRR

Healthy Kidney 10K
May 19, 2007 / Central Park / 9:00 a.m.

Michael Aish New Zealand Age: 30 A native of New Plymouth, New Zealand, Aish moved to the United States to attend Western State College in Colorado, where he went on to establish five school records and win five NCAA Division II titles. Aish lives in Gunnison, CO, and shares a coach with fellow Healthy Kidney 10K athletes Craig Mottram and Andrew Letherby. He ran a personal-best 2:13:42 at the Fukuoka International Marathon in December and shaved seven seconds off his 10,000-meter best at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in late April, giving him the Olympic “A” standard in both events. The two-time Olympian also holds the New Zealand and Oceania records for the indoor 5000-meter run.



Worku Beyi Ethiopia Age: 20 Since moving to the U.S. last spring, the easygoing Beyi, a resident of the Bronx, has established himself not only as one of the dominant racers on the New York City and Northeast running scenes, but as a contender in nearly every race he enters. Beyi, who lives and trains with fellow Healthy Kidney 10K entrant Demesse Tefera, recently finished 10th at the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Washington, against a world-class field. He set a 10K PR of 28:43 at the 2007 Cooper River Bridge Run.



Martin Fagan Ireland Age: 23 Following in the footsteps of Irish greats John Treacy, Mark Carroll, and Keith Kelley, Fagan followed up his outstanding career as a junior athlete by enrolling at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he won two Big East cross country titles, posted the fastest collegiate time ever run at New York City’s Van Cortlandt Park, and finished as the runner-up at 10,000 meters at the 2006 NCAA Championships. Fagan, still a resident of Providence, recently ran a personal best of 28:18.30 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational 10,000 meters.



Matt Gonzales United States Age: 25 Gonzales raised eyebrows when he won his opening-round 5000-meter heat at the 2004 Olympic Trials in a race that was televised nationally; he then finished sixth overall (top collegian) in the final. A few months later, Gonzales further established his credentials by taking second at the NCAA Championships behind two-time champion Simon Bairu. Shortly after making his professional debut in 2005, Gonzales finished second at both the 2005 USA 10K Championships (behind fellow Healthy Kidney 10K entrant Dathan Ritzenhein) and the 2006 USA 15K Championships (behind Olympic marathon silver medalist Meb Keflezighi), and helped Team USA to its first-ever bronze medal at the 2005 Chiba International Ekiden in Japan. Although he has struggled with injuries since last spring, Gonzales returned to racing in early May, finishing 12th at the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Washington. Gonzales lives in Albuquerque.



Patrick Gildea United States Age: 27 Long Island native Gildea competed for the University of Tennessee and still makes his home in Knoxville, but he occasionally returns to New York to race in Central Park, most recently winning the NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Mile in February and finishing 12th at the USA 8K Championships in March. Gildea’s father, James, is a six-time finisher of the ING New York City Marathon and has worked for many years as a volunteer overseeing the race’s professional athlete special-fluids operation.



Khalid Khannouchi United States Age: 35 Although he has lived in the New York metro area since coming to the United States from Morocco 14 years ago, and although he won the 1994 NYRR Team Championships 5-Mile in Central Park, Khannouchi—arguably the greatest marathoner of all time—will be making his New York City professional racing debut at the Healthy Kidney 10K. The U.S. record-holder in the marathon with his 2:05:38 clocking at the 2002 Flora London Marathon, Khannouchi is the former world record-holder at both the 20K and marathon distances and is a four-time champion of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. He has a blistering 27:58 10K personal best.



Richard Kiplagat Kenya Age: 26 Kiplagat hails from Marakwet, Kenya, where he attended the same high school as Olympic medalists Moses Kiptanui and Reuben Kosgei. He arrived in the United States in 2002 as a student at Iona College. A 10-time All American for the Gaels, he was the runner-up at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships and won six IC4A titles. Kiplagat earned both undergraduate and masters’ degrees at Iona and finished off his collegiate eligibility last spring. After graduation, he won his first professional race at the CVS/pharmacy Downtown 5K in Rhode Island last September. This spring, he defeated an outstanding field at the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K in South Carolina and ran a 10,000-meter personal best of 28:06.43 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.



Andrew Letherby Australia Age: 33 A frequent competitor on Australian world cross country and half-marathon teams, Letherby also represented his country at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, where he earned the bronze medal in the marathon. Letherby’s mother competed for Australia in the World Cross Country Championships and World Cup Marathon in the early 1980s, and his sister was a top Aussie race walker with five national medals to her credit. A 1998 graduate of Georgia State University, Letherby met and married his wife, Meg, there before settling in Colorado. He competed in New York City four times in 2006, including a commanding victory at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run.



Craig Mottram Australia Defending Champion Age: 26 “Buster” Mottram is returning to New York to attempt a third-straight Healthy Kidney 10K title. He has used the race the last two years as a springboard into his summer racing season, with breathtaking results: 2005 saw him break Australia’s 14-year-old record in the mile, capture the bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, and finish the year with a win down New York City’s famed thoroughfare in the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, and the 2006 race set up a stellar track season that ended with a defeat of Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Kenenisa Bekele for the gold medal at the IAAF World Cup in Athletics 3000 meters. Mottram, who divides his time between Geelong, Australia, and London, England, arrives in New York after a solid indoor season in which he established a new Australian record (his seventh) in the 3000 meters at the Boston Indoor Games and finished a close second to two-time Olympic 1500-meter medalist Bernard Lagat in the Wanamaker Mile at New York City’s Millrose Games. As a teenager, Mottram was a national champion triathlete and champion diver.



Dathan Ritzenhein United States Age: 24 A two-time national high school cross country champion, “Ritz” came within an eyelash of setting the all-time high school records at two miles and 5000 meters. He experienced numerous injuries during his years at the University of Colorado, but still helped lead the Buffaloes to the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships team title, won the individual cross country title the following year, established the U.S. collegiate record (recently broken) in the 10,000 meters, and qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games—all before his 22nd birthday. Ritzenhein turned pro in 2004, placed third at the 2006 BUPA Great North Run half-marathon in England, and made his marathon debut at the ING New York City Marathon last November, finishing 11th in 2:14:01. He recently moved from Boulder, CO, to Eugene, OR.



Demesse Tefera Ethiopia Age: 24 Tefera made his U.S. racing debut at last year’s Healthy Kidney 10K. Although he had a disappointing run and did not finish the race, his early placing among the race leaders gave an indication that he would be one to watch. Since then, he has established himself as one of the dominant racers across the Northeast, and high placings at world-class races like the Lilac Bloomsday Run and the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile prove that he can be a factor in any race he enters. A New York resident and the 2006 NYRR Fred Lebow Runner of the Year, Tefera was a part of the corporate racing-team system in Japan, where he ran a personal best of 13:45 for 5K.



Justin Young United States Age: 27 Young, who has notched numerous top-10 finishes at USA Championships races at a variety of distances, qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon at last October’s LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. He represented Team USA at the 2004 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships, and finished as the top American in 18th place. Young, who attended Butler University in Indianapolis, now lives in Superior, CO, and is coached by former marathon world record-holder and 1988 New York City Marathon champion Steve Jones.



Macharia Yuot Sudan Age: 25 Yuot’s journey to New York City and the Healthy Kidney 10K began 18 years ago, when the civil war that would ultimately take two million Sudanese lives reached his hometown of Paleek. Separated from his family and hunted by militia, Yuot became one of the estimated 26,000 “Lost Boys of Sudan,” walking nearly 1,500 miles through Ethiopia and Kenya over the course of three years before being lifted to the United States seven years ago. Brought to Pennsylvania by the Lutheran Church of Philadelphia, Yuot attended high school there before enrolling at Widener University to study social work. There he also began to develop his talents as a distance runner and eventually won five NCAA Division III titles, including a three-day span in May 2006 in which he won the 5000 meters, 10,000 metes, and 3000-meter steeplechase. Yuot, who still resides in Philadelphia, hopes to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials at next month’s Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota and to gain U.S. citizenship in time to compete in the Trials in November.

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