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Hall, Kastor and O'Neill - Ready for London and Boston

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Hall, Kastor and O'Neill - Ready for London and Boston

Team Running USA Athletes - Hall, Kastor and O'Neill - Ready for Marathon Tests in London and Boston

Team Running USA Athletes - Hall, Kastor and O'Neill - Ready for Marathon Tests in London and Boston. Hall faces formidable Flora London field; favorite Kastor and O'Neill after Beijing berths By Ryan Lamppa, Running USA wire

Three Team Running USA athletes - Olympians and recent national champions Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor and Kate O'Neill - are ready to race at the most important marathons to-date in 2008, the Flora London and U.S. Olympic Trials Marathons, on Sunday, April 13 and Sunday, April 20, respectively.

In London, Hall, 25, who last November won the U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials in impressive and record fashion over the hills of Central Park, returns to the site of his U.S. record debut of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 24 seconds, where he raced like a veteran and finished 7th overall against a deep international field.

This year at London, in his third marathon, the Stanford grad again faces world class competition including defending race champion Martin Lel of Kenya, 2004 Olympic Marathon gold medalist Stefano Baldini of Italy, two-time world marathon champion Jaouad Gharib and last year's London runner-up Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco, 2007 world marathon champion Luke Kibet of Kenya and his countryman, the world half-marathon record holder Sammy Wanjiru who ran 2:06:39 in his marathon debut in Fukuoka last December and South African veteran Hendrick Ramaala.

Team Running USA Coach Terrence Mahon commented on his young charge, "Ryan's build up to the Flora London Marathon has been his best training by far. He is stronger, faster and more relaxed when putting in the training workload required to be one of the world's best marathoners. He is excited to test his fitness against the incredible field that they have assembled in London. We both feel that this marathon will be a great test for what lies ahead in Beijing."

A week later at the Olympic Trials over a multi-loop course in downtown Boston, Kastor and O'Neill hope to join teammate Hall on the Beijing U.S. Olympic marathon team. Based on her long list of running achievements including the first sub-2:20 marathon by a U.S. woman and her 2004 Olympic Marathon bronze medal, Kastor, 35, is the clear favorite to win the event.

According to Coach Mahon, "Deena is ready to begin her quest to a return to the Olympic podium. Her training has gone very well and she is stronger than ever. She would like nothing better than to cross that line at Boston and find out that she will share her trip to China with her training partner Kate O'Neill."

O'Neill, 27, an Olympian (10,000 meters in 2004), ran an impressive marathon debut (2:36:15) in the heat at Chicago in 2007 and as a result, the Yale grad, who won the 2008 USA Half-Marathon title in Houston on January 13, is also a contender for a top three finish at the Olympic Marathon Trials.

Coach Mahon further commented, "O'Neill, much like Ryan Hall, is a newcomer to the marathon but appears to be a natural for the event. Her third place finish in a hot and steamy Chicago shows that she knows how to handle whatever marathon race day throws at her. Having the advantage of being able to train with Deena Kastor on a daily basis - Kate knows what it will take to make the Olympic team and feels more confident about her chances after each training session."

"Deena and Kate have worked extremely hard in their Trials preparations, and they will be tough to beat and will inspire each other during the race," he added.

Other Olympic Marathon Trials contenders at Boston include two-time Olympian Elva Dryer, 2004 OMT fourth place finisher Blake Russell, Mary Akor, 2004 OMT fifth place finisher Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Samia Akbar and Desiree Davila. As past Olympic Marathon Trials have shown, however, upsets are more the rule than the exception, and someone again could "shock" the field and the pundits.

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