FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Susan Loken and Magdalena Lewy Boulet Are Top Contenders in the
More Magazine | Fitness Magazine Marathon + Half-Marathon
Three-time marathon champion Loken to chase marathon event record
2008 Olympian Lewy Boulet to run half-marathon
New York, April 15, 2009—Three-time champion Susan Loken and 2008 Olympian
Magdalena Lewy Boulet headline an international field of nearly 9,600
runners expected to compete in the More® Magazine | Fitness® Magazine
Marathon + Half-Marathon on Sunday, April 26, in New York's Central Park,
it was announced today by Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York
Road Runners. The sixth-annual event features the world's first marathon
exclusively for women over 40 and the world's largest women-only
half-marathon race.
Last year's second-place Marathon finisher Susie Meyers-Kennedy of Phoenix,
AZ, and top local runner Christine Glockenmeier of Basking Ridge, NJ, will
challenge Loken on the hills of Central Park at the classic 26.2-mile
distance. The first-place marathon finisher will earn a $2,000 prize, and
the top half-marathon finisher will win $1,000.
"The growth of this race demonstrates that women are running stronger and
longer than ever," Wittenberg said. "More and Fitness have tapped into the
fact that women love the challenge of a ‘big' race like a half-marathon or
marathon, and that it's more fun to run and train together. There's nothing
like pushing through the hills of Central Park to bond women together."
Loken, 45, is a three-time USA masters marathon champion and three-time
More Magazine Marathon champion. The Phoenix, AZ, resident, who is
competing in her final competitive More | Fitness Marathon, will be chasing
her own event record of 2 hours, 45 minutes, 35 seconds, which she set in
her first appearance, in 2005. The time remains the fastest ever for a
marathon run by a woman entirely in Central Park.
A mother of three, Loken is the program director for Chances for Children,
which aims to provide at-risk kids with an opportunity for a positive
change through health and fitness. Loken has gathered a team of 38 women
from Arizona and Oregon to run as part of the second-annual Moms Running
for MORE charity-driven training group to support Chances for Children.
Fund-raising efforts for Moms Running for MORE will help support Chances
for Children's latest program, the "Fit Family," at St. Peter's Indian
Mission School in Casa Blanca, AZ.
"I've run more than 25 marathons, not to mention countless half-marathons,
and this is my favorite race," Loken said. "Nothing compares to the energy,
excitement, and celebration of mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters,
and friends supporting each other as they train together, fund-raise
together, and cross the finish line together."
Lewy Boulet, 35, of Oakland, CA, will be making her More Magazine | Fitness
Magazine Half-Marathon debut. She was the runner-up at the 2008 U.S.
Olympic Team Trials – Women's Marathon, stunning the field of America's top
female marathoners with a personal best of 2:30:19. In the Beijing Olympic
Marathon, she was forced to drop out at the 15-kilometer mark with a badly
bruised knee. A native of Poland, Lewy Boulet became a United States
citizen in San Francisco on September 11, 2001, just hours after the
terrorist attacks. In addition to juggling training with raising her
4-year-old son, Owen, Lewy Boulet is a full-time assistant coach at the
University of California at Berkeley.
Supermodel Carol Alt, an author, actress and entrepreneur who is also the
author of three books on eating raw foods, will serve as the host for the
2009 More Magazine | Fitness Magazine Marathon + Half-Marathon, which will
be presented by Aquaphor® Healing Ointment. Corporate contributing sponsors
are MBT, the anti-shoe; Silk SOY; and Bally Total Fitness. Marathon
participants are invited to raise money for CARE, an organization that
empowers women around the world to help end global poverty. More than
$26,000 has been raised thus far.
Prior to the race, a two-day Health + Wellness Expo at the Altman
Building—located at 135 W. 18th Street between Sixth and Seventh
avenues—will feature an appearance by celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito,
health screenings, fitness seminars, product sampling, and more. The expo,
which is free and open to the public, is also the location for race number,
chip, and goody-bag pickup for registered entrants. Due to overwhelming
demand, the race reached capacity in mid-March and is closed to new
entrants.
The marathon will begin at 7:40 a.m. on Sunday on Central Park's East Drive
near 92nd Street. The half-marathon will begin at 8:00 a.m. on East Drive
near 71st Street.
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