All That Glitters: New York City's Fifth Avenue Mile

In case the radio hasn't bashed you over the head with this information yet: these streets will make you feel brand new - it's a concrete jungle where dreams are made of. And also, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.  

That's right, it's New York City. The best running city in the country, despite common prejudices against pollution and high rents, and in one of the three times each year that the New York Road Runners shuts down at least one major road in Manhattan, many of the world's best milers converge on one of the most expensive streets in the world: Fifth Avenue.

This year comes with a larger field than normal on the women's side, with 19 women entered as of this writing, including the winners of four of the last five years returning to try to claim another title. 

Last year's winner, 1500m Olympian Shannon Rowbury, was fresh off her bronze medal in the 1500m at the World Championships, as she narrowly defeated the World Championships silver medalist, Lisa Dobriskey. In 2008, their finishing order at this event was flipped, as Dobrisky took that win with the fastest time in the last five years: 4:18.6. This year, Rowbury is fresh off a personal best over 3000m of 8:31.38, positioning her as number three all-time amongst U.S. women and a 2:00.47 personal best in the 800m. However, her year has been less dominating amongst U.S. competitors as it has been in the past, as she collected third place finishes at the USA indoor (3000m) and outdoor (1500m) championships.

The second place finisher at the U.S. Championships, narrowly defeated in the final steps of the race, was 1500m Olympian Erin Donohue. A New Jersey native, Donohue is the closest New York City gets to having a local favorite in contention. She represented the U.S. in the 1500m at the world indoor championships this year and is one of three women in the field who has broken 2:00 for 800m with her 1:59.99 over the summer. 

The other sub-2:00 800m runners in the field are Morgan Uceny and Italian Olympian Elisa Cusma Piccone. Piccone is an 800m specialist who rarely ventures up to the 1500m distance and has never raced a full mile (at least not at the professional level). Her personal best of 4:04.98 for 1500m doesn't necessarily make her a favorite, but her aggressive racing style always makes her a threat of some kind. 

Uceny has been having a break-out year with victories in the 1500m indoors at the USA championships and the BAA Road Mile, and personal bests of 1:58.68 for 800m and 4:02.40 for 1500m.             

The youngest athlete in the race is 19-year-old Kilkidan Gezahegne. She was the World Championships indoor gold medalist at 1500m, the youngest woman to ever win a world indoor title. However, her season has been uneventful since that weekend back in March. 

Other notables in the field are the new 5000m American record holder Molly Huddle and past winners of this competition: Sara Hall and Canadian Olympian Carmen Douma-Hussar, who just notched a win at the Grandma's Minnesota Mile in Duluth this past weekend. Huddle and Hall just finished first and second at the USA 5k road championships. Complete field below:

Shannon Rowbury, USA / Nike
Kilkidan Gezahegne,  ETH / adidas
Morgan Uceny, USA / Reebok
Erin Donohue, USA / Nike
Carmen Douma-Hussar, CAN / New Balance
Elisa Cusma Piccione, ITA / Nike
Nicole Edwards, CAN / Saucony
Genzebe Dibaba, ETH / adidas
Molly Huddle, USA / Saucony
Sara Hall, USA / Asics
Treniere Moser, USA / Nike
Hannah England, GBR / Nike
Amy Mortimer, USA / Reebok
Megan Wright, CAN / New Balance
Elizabeth Maloy, USA / NYAC
Brenda Martinez, USA / New Balance
Heather Dorniden, USA / Team USA Minn.
Hilary Stellingwerff, CAN / New Balance
Aziza Aliyu, ETH / West Side Runners

On the men's side, all the chatter is about 2007 Fifth Avenue Mile champion Alan Webb's return to respectability. I say "respectability" because he has not quite returned to his American record of 3:46.91 mile form. However, he just popped a promising 3:36.21 for 1500m in Europe. This comeback was overshadowed by another competitor in the race: 2008 Olympic 1500m silver medalist and 2008 Fifth Avenue Mile champion Nick Willis, who won the race in a comfortable 3:35.17.

Hopefully the attention on their comebacks will not overshadow the athletes in the race who have been having stellar 2010s. Olympian Leo Manzano recently found his way onto the top-10 all-time U.S. list in the 1500m with his 3:32.37 in Brussels and Moroccan Olympian Amine Laalou just ran his personal best of 3:29.53 in Monaco this past July, followed with a win at the Continental Cup just a few weeks ago in Croatia.

Returning winner, British Olympian Andy Baddeley, doesn't stand out as the overwhelming favorite, but he didn't last year, either. In his last competition this year, he placed third in the two-mile race at the Great North City Games in a time of 8:34. However, he proved last year that incoming performances aren't relevant when Fifth Avenue is added to the mix when he pulled off the victory over the field's oldest competitor: Bernard Lagat.

While Lagat may have a decade over some of the other runners in the race (almost two decades over the youngest female competitor), he is not really showing signs of slowing down. He is the American record holder for 1500m, 3000m and 5000m, the latter two of which were achieved this summer. He just racked up a double win at the Continental Cup in the 5000m and 3000m, finishing both in a killer kick. However, the field is not likely to play to his biggest strength - sitting and kicking - as the Fifth Avenue Mile has never, in the history of the Earth, gone out slow.

There is plenty of young U.S. talent in the rest of the field, and while none are considered serious threats to the more seasoned athletes in the race, it's always hard to tell who is going to be well suited to racing a mile on the road. David Torrence has proved that he has this particular talent, as he is the two-time winner of the USA road mile championships. Garrett Heath was the first U.S. runner at this past weekend's Grandma's Minnesota Mile and Will Leer is coming off a win in the 1500m at the DecaNation meeting in Annecy, France. Full field below:

Andy Baddeley GBR / New Balance
Bernard Lagat USA / Nike
Amine Laalou MAR / Nike
Leonel Manzano USA / Nike
Nick Willis NZL / Reebok
Alan Webb USA / Nike
Tom Lancashire GBR / Nike
David Torrence USA / Nike
Will Leer USA / Oregon TC Elite
Haron Lagat USA / New Balance
Adrian Blincoe NZL / New Balance
Taylor Milne CAN / New Balance
Garrett Heath USA / Saucony
Tim Bayley GBR / Puma
Russell Brown USA / Oregon TC elite
Daniel Huling USA / Reebok
Alistair Cragg IRL / adidas
Jon Rankin CAY / Marathonguide.com
Sean Brosnan USA / Mizuno
Abiyot Endale ETH / Westchester TC
Pedro Antonio Esteso ESP / Strands.com

If you are in or around New York this Sunday (September 26th), you are in for a treat, so get yourself out to Fifth Avenue to cheer on these large fields, jam-packed with Olympians from multiple countries. The earliest races start at 9:00am with the wheelchair/handcycle race, followed by age group heats. The NYRR Road Mile Championships (limited to the top NYRR members) kicks off at 12:20pm and the Professional fields go off at 12:50pm with the ladies competing first.

If you are not able to catch the event in person, it will be streamed live on the internet HERE.

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This post is related to an event on our Calendar:

• Continental Airlines 5th Avenue Mile