Courtesy: Running USA

A pantheon of New York City Marathon champions - defending women's champion Ludmila Petrova (Russia), 1997 and 1998 men's winner John Kagwe (Kenya), 1999 men's winner Joseph Chebet (Kenya), 1998 women's winner Franca Fiacconi (Italy) and 1996 men's champ Giacomo Leone (Italy) - will grace the field for the 32nd running of the event on Sunday, November 4, it was announced recently by race director Allan Steinfeld, President and CEO of the New York Road Runners.

The 2001 NYC Marathon will offer a total guaranteed prize purse of $514,000 and an event record first place prize purse of $80,000 to the men's and women's champions.

Petrova, 33, ran a career best time of 2:25:45 to win last year over Fiacconi, who was second in 2:26:03. Petrova finished fourth in the 1998 NYC Marathon, which was won by Fiacconi in 2:25:17. This year Petrova finished seventh (2:29:23) at the Boston Marathon and was second in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon (1:10:36).

Fiacconi, 36, is quietly becoming one of the NYC Marathon's top all-time performers. Besides her 1998 triumph, she was runner-up in 1996, third in 1997, and fourth in 1999. Fiacconi comes into this year's race as one of the hottest and busiest racers in the world with marathon triumphs earlier this year at Trieste, Italy, and Enschede, Netherlands and a second place finish in Osaka.

The affable and popular Kagwe, 32, a resident of Norristown, PA, won the 1997 NYC Marathon in 2:08:12 (possibly missing a race record when he stopped to tie his shoes several times) and followed that with a 2:08:45 win in 1998, defeating Chebet by three seconds and Zebedayo Bayo by six seconds in one of the most exciting finishes in race history. Chebet, 31, came back to win in 1999 in 2:09:14 (Kagwe was fifth in 2:09:39).

Leone, 30, won the 1996 NYC Marathon in 2:09:54 and was fourth in 1999 in 2:09:36. He will be the focus of some pre-race attention thanks to his superb 2:07:51 lifetime best, runner-up performance at the 2001 Otsu Marathon in Japan. Kagwe won the 2001 Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego (2:10:07), while Chebet did not finish the Boston Marathon earlier this year.