Boston Marathon champion Caroline Rotich running BAA Half

June 9, 2020 | News | No Comments

Reigning Boston Marathon Champion Caroline Rotich Returns to Boston for this Sunday’s B.A.A. Half Marathon

Current Boston
Marathon, B.A.A. 10K, and B.A.A. Distance Medley winners lead strong
professional athlete field. More than 475 runners will race as part of
presenting sponsor Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s
team to tackle cancer.

BOSTON ÛÓ The Boston Athletic Association announced today the elite field for the 15th annual B.A.A. Half Marathon, presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. Headlining the professional
field are this year’s Boston Marathon champion Caroline Rotich ,
as well as two-time defending B.A.A. Distance Medley victor Stephen
Sambu. Both are from Kenya. The B.A.A. Half Marathon will be run on
Sunday, October
11, 2015, beginning and finishing in Boston’s Franklin Park.

Rotich, 31, returns to
Boston looking to add another accomplishment to her growing resume. In
2010, Rotich won the B.A.A. Half Marathon in 1:10:52, showing her
prowess over the distance. The native of Nyahururu,
Kenya, returned to the Bay State in triumphant fashion this year, using
a finely timed surge on Boylston Street to win the Boston Marathon in
2:24:55. By winning the Boston Marathon, Rotich became the first woman
ever to win both the marathon and the B.A.A.
Half Marathon.

“Winning BostonÛ¢ makes
me feel like one of the big runners,” Rotich said earlier this year,
reflecting on her victory. Rotich will be racing the 2015 B.A.A. Half
Marathon, presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
and the Jimmy Fund, as part of her tune up for November’s TCS New York
City Marathon. Rotich is one of the favorites in that race as well, and
has won the NYC Half twice.

Standing between
Rotich and another B.A.A. Half Marathon title are a slew of
international runners. Mary Wacera, the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon
Championships silver medalist, returns to Boston after winning the
rain-soaked B.A.A. 10K fewer than four months ago. Cynthia Limo, last
year’s B.A.A. Half Marathon runner-up, and Helen Jepkurgat, winner of
two half marathons this year, round out the women’s field from Kenya.
Hailing from Ethiopia is Belaynesh Oljira, a World
Championships bronze medalist both on the track and in cross country.

Leading the American
charge are Clara Santucci and Karen Roa. Santucci is the reigning
Pittsburgh Marathon champion. Beverly Ramos, the national record holder
for Puerto Rico, returns to Boston aiming to better
her eighth place showing from a year ago.

For the men, Sambu
comes into the B.A.A. Half Marathon riding a hot streak in
Massachusetts. In addition to winning the past two B.A.A. Distance
Medley titles, he placed second at the B.A.A. 10K in June and won
August’s Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod. Having previously finished
third and fourth at the B.A.A. Half Marathon, Sambu seeks to finish atop
the podium.

“I love this place.
I’ve been doing most of my races, almost everything, on the East coast.
So many people know you, they love you,” Sambu said prior to the B.A.A.
10K. “So many people
[here], they love running.”

Joining Sambu among
the men’s contenders from East Africa are Raji Assefa, Daniel Salel, and
Eliud Ngetich. Assefa, a native of Ethiopia, holds the fastest half
marathon personal best in the field, having run 1:00:07
in Rotterdam in 2008. He placed 6th at last year’s race.

Salel and Ngetich are
half marathon aces looking to give Kenya their ninth B.A.A. Half
Marathon men’s title. Salel is this year’s B.A.A. 10K winner and
finished runner-up at the B.A.A. Half Marathon in 2014, while
Ngetich won the Virginia Beach Half Marathon in March with a personal
best time of 1:03:40.

Eric Ashe and Brian
Harvey will sport the distinguished gold unicorn singlet of the Boston
Athletic Association’s racing team. Ruben Sanca, a Massachusetts native
and 2012 Olympian for Cape Verde Islands, is also
competing.

With the B.A.A. Half
Marathon serving as the third and final race of the B.A.A. Distance
Medley, three athletes have a chance to earn bonuses on race day. If
Rotich, Salel, or Wacera win their respective races,
they’ll earn an extra $20,000 (USD) bonus for finishing first at two
B.A.A. races this year.

Since first being run
in 2001, the B.A.A. Half Marathon has seen winners from eight different
countries. The winner of the B.A.A. Half Marathon will earn $10,000,
plus an additional $10,000 if the winner’s time
is under the event records of 1:00:34 for men and 1:08:20 for women. In
2014, more than 6,220 athletes participated in the B.A.A. Half
Marathon, presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund.
This year’s field has 8,500 participants.

Men’s Elite Athlete Field (as of October 5, 2015)

NAME

CITIZENSHIP

PERSONAL BEST

Raji Assefa

ETH