RUNNING NEWS ITEM

Beating the Heat to Win ING Georgia Marathon

MONDAY, 26 MARCH 2007

ATLANTA -- Today, Kenyan Joseph Chirlee and Russian Valentina Levushkina bested a top elite field to win the inaugural ING Georgia Marathon in record times at 2:19:17 and 2:41:25, respectively.

As an inaugural event, the winners' times for the half and full marathon set the event and course records as a standard for future ING Georgia Marathon hopefuls on the hilly neighborhood Atlanta course.

Despite having switched from the half marathon to the marathon only 48 hours prior to the event start, Chirlee maintained a blistering pace of 5:19 minutes per mile through the hilly marathon course on an unseasonably warm day. "I switched to the marathon because I felt like I was strong enough to win," commented Chirlee. "But it's not about winning. Everybody that finishes a marathon is a winner."

The women's field featured elite athletes from around the world, but Levushkina led a trio of Russians in the top three women's positions. Levushkina, who won the marathon in her first attempt at the distance, explained: "I chose the ING Georgia Marathon as my first because of ING's reputation in these races. And the hospitality here in Atlanta was amazing."

For the inaugural ING Georgia Half Marathon, a pair of Kenyans took top honors, with Laban Moiben winning the men's race with a time of 1:04:33 and Janet Cherobon pacing the women in 1:16:33. In one of the largest wheeler fields this year, Krige Schabort of South Africa and Amanda McGrory of the United States raced to dramatic finishes to win the wheelchair divisions of the ING Georgia Half Marathon. Schabort, a previous winner of the South African National Championship Marathon, won the men's race with a time of 50:33. McGrory, a world champion wheeler and 2005 winner of the ING New York City Marathon wheelchair competition, finished the wheelchair half marathon in 58:09.

The first-ever ING Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon became the state's largest long-distance running event, with all 15,000 spots selling out before the race. Sporting a diverse race field, the event had a high ratio of marathoners to half marathoners: 38 percent signed up for the marathon and 62 percent signed up for the half marathon. As a combined group, the racers represented all 50 states and 25 countries, with Ireland, Canada, Kenya and Mexico having the highest representation among the international athletes.

"The ING Georgia Marathon provided an opportunity for everybody to come together and get a sense of the community spirit that we have here in Atlanta," added Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. "We are glad to share that community spirit with ING and the marathoners. It is an opportunity for all of us to come together, and each of us in our own way can use this to begin our own challenge of physical fitness."

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