Over 10,000 runners from New York City and around the world will participate in the celebratory race

NYRR Press Release

New York, October 25, 2016—Defending champions Donn Cabral (USA) and Alexi Pappas (GRE), both fresh off their appearances at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, will headline the elite athlete fields at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K on Saturday, November 5, it was announced by New York Road Runners.

Over 10,000 runners from New York City and around the world will participate in the celebratory race as a prelude to the next day’s TCS New York City Marathon.

Since her 2015 victory, Pappas represented Greece in the Olympics, finishing 17th in the highly competitive women’s 10,000 meters with a time of 31:36.16, a Greek national record. In June her film “Tracktown,” which she co-directed and stars in, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film, which follows an aspiring Olympic athlete who’s forced to take a day off, will be featured in a special screening at the TCS New York City Marathon Pavilion on Wednesday, November 2.

Cabral has also experienced success since he broke the tape in 2015. The two-time Olympian, who trains with the New Jersey*New York Track Club, finished in eighth place with a time of 8:25.81 in the Rio 2016 Olympic 3000-meter steeplechase. Cabral’s strong showing in Rio has become a part of what many have called the new era of American distance running.

The USA’s Marielle Hall and Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal are also among the Olympians who will be part of the elite fields. They will be joined by 2016 New Balance 5th Avenue Mile champion Eric Jenkins and USA Half Marathon Championships runner-up Scott Fauble in the event, and all four will participate in this year’s NYRR Lead Vehicle Program at the TCS New York City Marathon the following day.

Since 2005, the NYRR Lead Vehicle Program has provided world-class runners who have yet to debut at the marathon distance with the chance to experience the energy and excitement of the TCS New York City Marathon while riding in a lead vehicle ahead of the professional athlete fields. As part of the program, participants also take part in race-week activities and participate in the TCS New York City Marathon professional athlete experience.

Hall represented the U.S. at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after finishing third in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials 10,000 meters behind Molly Huddle and Emily Infield.

Representing Norway in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Bjerkeli Grøvdal has become one of Europe’s top distance runners. She finished in the top 10 of both the 5000 and 10,000 meters in Rio.

Jenkins narrowly missed an Olympic berth with a fourth-place finish in the 5000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, but then outkicked 2016 Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz for the top spot at the 2016 New Balance 5th Avenue Mile.

Fauble, who also just missed an appearance in Rio with a fourth-place finish in the U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000 meters, finished the 2016 USA Half Marathon Championships in second place with a personal best time of 1:03:06.

Past athletes who have participated in the Lead Vehicle Program and gone on to run the New York City Marathon include: 2008 New York City Marathon third-place finisher Kara Goucher, 2010 New York City Marathon runner-up Shalane Flanagan, U.S. Olympic marathoners Dathan Ritzenhein and Ryan Hall, and New Zealand record-holder Kim Smith. Pappas, who will be defending her Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K title, participated in the program in 2015.

In Abbott’s first year as title sponsor of the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K, the global healthcare company is excited to support a race that helps runners at all levels join in the thrill of the TCS New York City Marathon weekend. Abbott is currently the title sponsor of the World Marathon Majors (AWMM), which features the world’s top six marathons, including the TCS New York City Marathon. A true force in the running community, Abbott supports events that help people push past what they ever thought was possible, whether that be finishing a 26.2-mile run or a 3.1-mile run.

The Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 5, on the East Side of Manhattan near the United Nations building, and finishes at the iconic TCS New York City Marathon finish line. Registration for the high-speed tour of Midtown Manhattan is open interested participants can register here.

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