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TOP INTERNATIONAL FIELD TO COMPETE AT OGDEN NEWSPAPERS 20-K CLASSIC
25th Anniversary Edition to Honor Three-Time Winner Bill Rodgers

WHEELING (May 22) --  Four-time Boston and New York City Marathon champion,
Bill Rodgers, will be the guest of honor at Saturday's Ogden Newspapers 20-K
Classic.  Rodgers, who was a three-time open champion and a four-time
masters champion on the hills of Wheeling, will have about 40 of the world's
best road runners on hand to help him celebrate the 25th anniversary of the
race.  He was the race's first champion back in 1977.

"I had come off of a marathon in Amsterdam," Rodgers recalled.  "The
[Wheeling] course was mind-blowing.  I knew it would be a hard race, but
it's like mountain running."

He prevailed in a three-way battle over marathon legends, Frank Shorter and
Tom Fleming, and the race has held a special meaning for him ever since.  He
has made the trip to Wheeling every year since then but two.

"Bill Rodgers became our greatest ambassador," commented the event's first
and only race director, Hugh Stobbs.

The elite field for Saturday's race features athletes from ten countries:
Algeria, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Kenya, Poland, Russia, Tanzania,
Ukraine, United States, and Yugoslavia.  The key contenders are likely to
be:

MEN -

John Yuda, Tanzania: The second-fastest man ever over the 25-K distance on
the road (1:13:56, Berlin, 2001), Yuda competed on his national team at the
2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in both the long and short
course races.  He makes his Wheeling debut.

Laban Chege, Kenya: Another Ogden Newspapers 20-K Classic debutant, Chege
has excellent credentials on the track, where he has covered 5000m in
13:21.41 and 10,000m in 27:33.28.  Racing most of his career in Europe, he
boasts a 1:01:05 half-marathon personal best time.

Stephen Kiogora, Kenya: A half-marathon specialist, Kiogora was the Kenyan
Armed Forces Half-Marathon champion in 1998, and won the Sydney
Half-Marathon in 1999.  Most recently, he was third at the Old Kent River
Bank Run 25-K in Grand Rapids, Mich. earlier this month.

Janko Bensa, Yugoslavia: Also running for the first time in Wheeling, Bensa
boasts a 1:02:11 half-marathon career best time.  He was the 2000 San Diego
Half-Marathon champion, and won the 2000 Motorola Austin Marathon.

William Cheseret, Kenya: The older brother of Olympic 1500m medalist,
Bernard Lagat, Cheseret has a 58:26 20-K personal best to his credit.
Racing mostly in France, Cheseret won the Semi-Marathon de La Rochelle
earlier this year.  He makes his Wheeling debut.

John Kariuki, Kenya: Kariuki was fifth in last year's race.  He is coming
off of a dominant victory at the Trolley run 4-mile in Kansas City, Mo.,
where he beat his nearest competitor by almost half a minute.


WOMEN -

Teresa Wanjiku: Small and powerful, Wanjiku won the Ogden Newspapers 20-K
Classic in 1998, and was second in 1999.  Runner's World magazine ranked her
the #3 road runner in the world in 1999.

Gladys Asiba, Kenya: Asiba ran a sizzling 1:10:05 half-marathon at the
Philadelphia Distance Run last year, to take second place.  In eight major
races last year, she won three times and never finished lower than third.
She will make her Wheeling debut.

Olga Kovpotina, Russia: A marathon specialist, Kovpotina has a personal best
time for the 42.195 km distance of 2:32:32.  She was second at last Sunday's
Medio Maraton Int'l de Coban in Guatamala.  This will be her first
appearance in Wheeling.

Yelena Plastinina, Ukraine: A veteran marathoner with a 2:33:26 career best
time, her marathon titles include Grandma's (Duluth) 1998, Istanbul 1996,
Hamilton (Bermuda) 1998 and 1999, Hartford 2000, Apeldoorn (Netherlands)
2000 and Kosice (Slovakia) 1993.  This will be the first time she has tested
herself on the hills of Wheeling.

Jackline Torori, Kenya: Based in Canada, Torori recently notched two
victories at the Dupont Spring Run-Off 8-K in Toronto (26:44) and the Garden
City 10-K in Victoria (34:06).  She is another Wheeling debutante.

NOTE: Two-time Boston Marathon champion, Catherine Ndereba, was forced to
withdraw due to difficulties in obtaining a Kenyan exit visa.

The complete elite field is attache in a separate file.

TO THE VICTORS GO THE CASH

Nearly $30,000 in prize money is at stake.  The winning man and woman will
each receive $5000, and could also drive off with brand new 2001 Chevrolet
Cavalier automobiles, if they break the open course records (1:00:17,
Dionicio Ceron, 1999 and 1:09:37, Catherine Ndereba, 1999).

# # # # #

The Ogden Newspapers 20-K Classic is made possible by the generous support
of its sponsors: Ogden Newspapers Inc., United National Bank, Wheeling Downs
Racetrack and Gaming Center, Jamboree in the Hills, Mason Rehab Center, and
Marhefka Auto Dealers.

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