Culpepper to make ING New York City Marathon debut

U.S. Olympian Alan Culpepper will run his first ING New York City Marathon on November 5, 2006, the race announced Monday.

Culpepper, a two time U.S. Olympian, finished eighth in the inaugural NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE on August 27, with a time of 1:04:07. After a stellar track career that included representing the United States in the 2000 Olympic 10,000 meters, Culpepper has gradually made the move up to the marathon distance. He is currently fifth on the World Marathon Majors Series leaderboard after his fifth-place finish at the Boston Marathon (2:11:02) in April. Culpepper made his marathon debut in 2001 in Chicago, tying Alberto Salazar's American debut record (2:09:41). He won the 2004 U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Trials (2:11:42) in a sprint finish against eventual Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, and he finished 12th in the 2004 Olympic Marathon, the second-highest U.S. finish in 20 years.

Culpepper join's a men's field that includes defending champion and marathon world record-holder Paul Tergat of Kenya and American Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein for the 37th running of the ING New York City Marathon.

source USATF