BOSTON – World Class Field Announced for 13th B.A.A. Half Marathon®

BOSTON – The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced its elite field of runners for the 13th B.A.A. Half Marathon, presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund. The B.A.A. Half Marathon will be held on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at Boston's Franklin Park and will be the third and final event of the 2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley. This three-race series will award $200,000 USD to the male and female ($100,000 each) with the fastest cumulative time from the B.A.A. 5K in April, the B.A.A. 10K in June, and the B.A.A. Half Marathon.

 

The 13th B.A.A. Half Marathon will include more than 7,500 participants. The event reached its field size limit in twelve minutes when registration opened in July. In addition to the B.A.A. Distance Medley prize purse at stake, top finishers will compete for a race prize purse of $38,400 USD.

 

2013 B.A.A. 10K champion and six-time NCAA All-American Stephen Sambu (KEN) is currently in first place on the B.A.A. Distance Medley Leader Board with a cumulative time of 41 minutes, 53 seconds. Trailing him by 26 seconds is 2012 B.A.A. Distance Medley champion Allan Kiprono (KEN), who established an event record time of  1:01:44 at last year's B.A.A. Half Marathon. Four seconds behind Kiprono is 2013 Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run (Washington, D.C.) champion Daniel Salel (KEN). Lani Rutto (KEN), the 2012 B.A.A. Distance Medley runner-up, trails Sambu by one minute and will also look to contend for the 2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley grand prize.

 

Also competing in the B.A.A. Distance Medley is 2013 B.A.A. 5K runner-up Aaron Braun (Colo.), who trails Sambu by one minute, 46 seconds.

 

 

The B.A.A. previously announced that two of the top finishers at the 2013 Boston Marathon® will compete in the B.A.A. Half Marathon. 2013 Boston Marathon champion and IAAF World Championships Marathon silver medalist Lelisa Desisa (ETH) will compete, along with Gebre Gebremariam (ETH), who placed third at both the 2011 and 2013 Boston Marathon and won the 2010 New York City Marathon.

 

Other men who will look to be in contention include Sam Chelanga (KEN), who finished third in the 2012 B.A.A. Distance Medley and has twice finished in the top three at the B.A.A. Half Marathon; 2010 Boston Marathon runner-up Tekeste Kebede (ETH); 2012 Olympian Mark Kenneally (IRL); winner of the 2006 B.A.A. Half Marathon Sam Ndereba (KEN); Henry Rutto (KEN), who won the 2013 Rock ‘n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon; and Harbert Okuti (UGA), who placed ninth at the Falmouth (MA) Road Race in August.

 

Among the top Americans in the field are Jeff Eggleston (Colo.), the top American finisher at the IAAF World Championships Marathon in August; 2013 Country Music Marathon (Nashville, Tenn.) champion Scott Wietecha (Tenn.); and perennial U.S. Championships contenders and Massachusetts natives Chris Barnicle and Zachary Hine, who resides in Colorado.

 

On the women's side, three-time Olympian and 2012 B.A.A. Distance Medley champion, Kim Smith, of New Zealand, will look to lead the field once again. A Providence, RI resident, Smith won the 2012 B.A.A. Half Marathon in 1:10:57, just five seconds shy of Caroline Rotich's (KEN) event record of 1:10:52 set in 2010. Smith won the 2012 B.A.A. Distance Medley with a cumulative time of 1:57:59.

 

Also competing in the 2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley are Kenyans Millicent Kuria and Alice Kimutai. Kuria, the 2008 champion at Bolder Boulder (Boulder, Colo.) and the Bellin Run (Green Bay, Wis.), trails Smith on the B.A.A. Distance Medley Leader Board by one minute, 11 seconds. Kimutai, who won the 2013 Crescent City Classic (New Orleans, La.), trails Smith by two minutes, 38 seconds.

 

2012 B.A.A. Distance Medley runner-up Aheza Kiros (ETH) will aim to challenge Smith again. Kiros placed second at last year's B.A.A. Half Marathon, running 1:12:50. 2012 Olympian Jess Draskau-Petersson (DEN) will also look to be among the leaders. Rounding out the women's field are Americans Kristen Fryburg-Zaitz (Colo.), who finished 13th at June's U.S. Half Marathon Championships, and four-time NCAA All-American Katie Matthews (Mass.).

 

The B.A.A. Half Marathon's 13.1-mile, rolling course is an out-and-back route that runs along the Emerald Necklace park system, highlighting the beauty of the historic park system while furthering the B.A.A.'s mission of promoting health and fitness. The B.A.A. Half Marathon will begin and end at White Stadium in Franklin Park, one of America's oldest parks, in Boston's Jamaica Plain and Dorchester neighborhoods.

 

The Half Marathon prize purse set at $38,400 with the overall male and female B.A.A. Half Marathon champions each receiving $6,000. Prize money will be distributed to the top ten runners overall, the top three in the masters division, and the top three in the push rim wheelchair division. Prize money awards are equal for men and women and are based on gun time results.

 

For more information, visit baa.org

 

Men's Elite Athlete Field (as of October 4, 2013)

NAME	CITIZENSHIP	AGE	PERSONAL BEST
Lelisa Desisa	ETH	23	59:30
Gebre Gebremariam	ETH	29	1:00:25
Sam Chelanga	KEN	28	1:01:19
Stephen Sambu *	KEN	25	1:01:34
Daniel Salel *	KEN	22	1:01:34
Allan Kiprono *	KEN	23	1:01:44
Sam Ndereba	KEN	36	1:01:50
Lani Rutto *	KEN	24	1:01:55
Chris Barnicle	USA / MA	26	1:02:43
Tekeste Kebede	ETH	32	1:02:51
Aaron Braun *	USA / CO	26	1:02:52
Scott Wietecha	USA / TN	32	1:03:13
Zachary Hine	USA / CO	26	1:03:57
Jeffrey Eggleston	USA / CO	29	1:03:59
Mark Kenneally	IRL	32	1:04:06
Henry Rutto	KEN	31	1:04:34
Harbert Okuti	UGA	27	1:07:29

  

Women's Elite Athlete Field (as of October 4, 2013)

NAME	CITIZENSHIP	AGE	PERSONAL BEST
Kim Smith *	NZL	31	1:07:11
Aheza Kiros	ETH	31	1:09:10
Alice Kimutai *	KEN	21	1:10:36
Kristen Fryburg-Zaitz	USA / CO	32	1:12:57
Jess Draskau-Petersson	DEN	36	1:13:30
Millicent Kuria *	KEN	27	1:15:09
Katie Matthews	USA / MA	22	Debut

 

* Participating in the 2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley

 Source: Boston Athletic Association Date: October 8, 2013

  

Men's 2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley Leader Board

RANK	NAME	5K FINISH (PLACE)	10K FINISH (PLACE)	CUMULATIVE TIME
1	Stephen Sambu (KEN)	13:47 (5)	28:06 (1)	41:53
2	Allan Kiprono (KEN)	13:43 (4)	28:36 (4)	42:19
3	Daniel Salel (KEN)	13:55 (7)	28:30 (3)	42:25
4	Lani Rutto (KEN)	13:41 (3)	29:12 (6)	42:53
5	Aaron Braun (USA)	13:40 (2)	29:59 (7)	43:39

 

Women's 2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley Leader Board

RANK	NAME	5K FINISH (PLACE)	10K FINISH (PLACE)	CUMULATIVE TIME
1	Kim Smith (NZL)	15:16 (1)	33:34 (2)	48:50
2	Millicent Kuria (KEN)	16:09 (8)	33:52 (3)	50:01
3	Alice Kimutai (KEN)	16:06 (7)	35:22 (6)	51:28
4	Nora Sullivan (USA)	18:38 (27)	38:01 (11)	56:39
5	Fiona Rudkin (GBR)	18:15 (22)	38:41 (13)	56:56

 

  

 

2013 B.A.A. Distance Medley Champions (Winning Male and Female)

PLACE	AMOUNT (USD)
1	$100,000

  

Men's and Women's Open Division Prize Structure

PLACE	AMOUNT (USD)
1	$6,000
2	$4,000
3	$2,500
4	$1,500
5	$1,000
6	$800
7	$600
8	$500
9	$400
10	$300