Tatyana McFadden to Headline Powerful Professional Wheelchair Division at 2015 United Airlines NYC Half on Sunday, March 15



By Robert Molke, NYRR Media Relations

New York, February 26, 2015—History’s most-accomplished wheelchair athlete, Tatyana McFadden, will headline the top-tier professional wheelchair division as she makes her debut at the 2015 United Airlines NYC Half on Sunday, March 15, it was announced today by Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners. Joining McFadden will be defending men’s champion and Paralympian Josh George, who will top the men’s field.

“We are excited to welcome an outstanding field of decorated professional wheelchair athletes to the second year of a professional wheelchair race at the United Airlines NYC Half,” said Wittenberg. “Our runners, spectators, and broadcast audience will be wowed and inspired by Tatyana, one of the greatest athletes in the world, and Josh, our defending champion and three-time Paralympian, and all of our professional wheelchair racers who will be the first athletes to pass the historic sights and energizing crowds of Manhattan at the 10th celebration of our flagship NYRR Five-Borough Series event.”

McFadden, 25, of Clarksville, MD, became the first and only athlete, male or female, to win four of the world’s major marathons, a “Grand Slam” of marathon championships in the same calendar year (2013), winning titles at Boston, London, Chicago, and New York. She repeated this astonishing feat in 2014. Before completing her second consecutive Grand Slam, McFadden earned a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Winter Games in the one-kilometer sitting cross-country ski race, a sport she had never competed in before. She has 10 Paralympic Summer Games medals (three gold, four silver, three bronze), and she won a record-setting six gold medals at the 2013 IPC World Championships in Lyon, France. The three-time New York City Marathon winner (2010, 2013, 2014) and 2015 Laureus Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award nominee will make her United Airlines NYC Half debut.

“I am so excited to do the United Airlines NYC Half because I absolutely love running in New York,” said McFadden. “The people there bring a lot of energy, making the races so much fun. This will be my first time doing the United Airlines NYC Half and I think it's perfect timing in the midst of our marathon training. I know the course will be tough and fast.”

George, 30, of Champaign, IL, is the defending NYC Half champion and the winner of the event’s inaugural wheelchair division. The four-time Chicago Marathon winner (2003, 2004, 2006, 2014) is the 2012 Paralympic Games 800-meter bronze medalist and improved to a gold medal at the 2013 IPC World Championships in the same distance. Before his 25th birthday, the three-time Paralympian set the 100-, 400-, and 800-meter world records. He won back-to-back titles at the 2013 and 2014 Twin Cities Marathon and earned victories the 2012 Grandma’s Marathon, the 2014 BolderBOULDER 10K and the 2014 LA Marathon. George’s half-marathon personal best (47:45) was set at the 2012 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, which he won.

This year’s professional wheelchair division, representing five countries, features 12 Paralympians and four IPC World Championships medalists. This year will mark the second professional wheelchair division contested at the United Airlines NYC Half since its inaugural running last year. Competitors will vie for a $15,000 prize purse, the world’s largest professional wheelchair athlete prize purse for a half-marathon. The race will start at 7:05 a.m., 25 minutes before the start of the professional men and the first wave.

The 2015 United Airlines NYC Half will air live in New York on ABC7 and WatchABC from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. EDT and on 7online from 7:00-10:30 a.m. Outside of the New York area, coverage will also be available on ESPN3 via WatchESPN from 7:00-10:30 a.m. on computers, tablets, smartphones, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One for those who have video or internet subscriptions from affiliated providers. International viewers can watch the broadcast from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. EDT via a variety of global broadcast partners (international viewers should check local listings).

Additional Top Athlete Backgrounds and Notable Performances

· Manuela Schär, 30, of Switzerland, is the world record-holder in the marathon with a personal best of 1:38:07. The 2013 IPC World Marathon champion won four gold medals at the 2014 IPC European Championships. A newcomer to the sport in 2013, she finished among the top three in her first five major marathons, including the 2013 BMW Berlin Marathon title. Before competing in longer-distance races, she captured three Paralympic medals in the 100 and 200 meters.

· Amanda McGrory, 28, of Savoy, IL, finished third at the 2014 NYC Half. She won the 2006 and 2011 New York City Marathons, the latter in a course-record 1:50:24, which bettered the previous record by more than two and a half minutes. She has placed in the top four at each of the six New York City Marathons she has entered. The four-time Paralympic medalist (one gold, one silver, two bronze) has also won two London Marathon titles and three Chicago Marathon titles. She finished third in the 2011 IPC World Championships Marathon.

· Susannah Scaroni, 23, of Champaign, IL, is the top returning entrant, finishing second at the 2014 NYC Half. The 2012 Paralympian won back-to-back titles at both the Twin Cities Marathon and the LA Marathon in 2013 and 2014; she also won the 2014 Grandma’s Marathon, the 2013 BolderBOULDER 10K, and the 2013 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, where she set her personal best of 53:52.

· Adam Bleakney, 39, of Savoy, IL, finished third at the 2014 NYC Half. The 2012 Bank of America Chicago Marathon runner-up earned the silver medal at the 2004 Paralympics; he is a four-time Paralympian (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012). He finished second at the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in 2013 and third at the same event one year later where he set his personal best of 45:03.

· Krige Schabort, 51, of Rome, GA, finished fourth at the 2014 NYC Half. He is a seven-time Honolulu Marathon champion, a two-time New York City Marathon champion (2002, 2003) and former course record-holder, and has earned marathon victories in Cleveland, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh. The 1992 Paralympic Marathon bronze medalist and 2000 Paralympic Marathon silver medalist has competed in five Paralympic Games.

· Ernst Van Dyk, 41, of South Africa, narrowly missed replicating his 2005 New York City Marathon title in 2014, finishing runner-up for a fourth time. He has won a record 10 Boston Marathon titles, including last year’s event and six consecutive times between 2001 and 2006. The former world record-holder has represented South Africa at every Paralympic Games since 1992, and won the 2013 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.​