Past Champions Lead Field at 8th Country Music Marathon

Returning, Past Champions Lead Field at 8th Country Music Marathon & ½ Marathon .... Largest participant field in event history with nearly 30,000 runners and walkers expected

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - (April 23, 2007) - Past champions Luke Kibet and Jomo Kororia from Kenya, along with returning women's champion Tatiana Mironova from Russia lead a professional field of 27 athletes at the eighth annual Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Saturday, April 28. The event - the country's third largest marathon and half-marathon combo - is set to host its largest participant field to date composed of nearly 30,000 runners and walkers from around the world.

Competition will be fierce as 18 men battle for five prize money positions including $17,500 for the champion. With three Country Music Marathon titles between them, Kibet, 33, and Kororia, 26, both hope to use course experience to their advantage. Kibet covered the 26.2-mile course en route to his 2004 and '00 victories in times of 2:14:11 and 2:12:55 respectively. Kororia broke the tape in 2003 in a time of 2:12:56.

Both Kenyans will be challenged by Ethiopian Fekadu Degefu, 31, who plans to better his 2006 bronze medal performance in Nashville. Degefu is joined by countryman and training partner Belay Welasha (38). Both men train in the Entoto hills above Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Athletes from Eastern Europe and South America frequent this race to utilize their strength on the undulating Country Music Marathon course. To-date, no athletes from either region have been successful against the Kenyan and Ethiopian dominance on the men's side, but Ukrainians Yuriy Hychun, 30, and Evgeni Bozhko, 31, and Columbians Hugo Jimenez (32), Juan Cardona, 32, hope to change this trend in 2007.

Between the Ukrainians and Columbians, Hychun has the strongest finish in Nashville. With victory in sight during the 2005 race, Hychun was left with bronze after his commanding lead was diminished in the final miles by hard charging Nephat Kinyanjui and Luke Kibet, who finished one and two respectively.

On the women's side, Mironova, now 37, bettered her 2005 third-place finish in Nashville last year, running to victory after she used a strong surge over the final two miles, making up a 40-second deficit, to pull away from Kenyan Anne Jelegat and cross the finish line alone.

This Saturday, Mironova will defend her title against a women's field that includes 29-year-old Abebe Tola of Ethiopia. Tola recently finished third at the L.A. Marathon (2:45:16) and holds a personal best of 2:29:54. Svetlana Pretot, 35, from France, who won the 2006 Nant Marathon, will also match strides with her former Russian country woman.

Ukranian Olena Shurkhno, 35, who set a course record in her 2006 victory at the Munster Marathon in Germany (2:37:50), and Ethiopians Alem Ashebir, 24, and Hirut Legesse, 25, are all expected to push the pace on race day.

Americans Suzy Schumacher, 37, from Arizona and Jenny DeWeese from North Carolina represent America's bid.

source RunningUSA