By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
(29-May) — Organizers of the 53rd edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10-K on Saturday, June 7, in New York City have released their elite field, and it’s truly stellar. New York Road Runners officials said yesterday that the Mini –the world’s first-ever road race for women, founded in 1972– would boast 17 Olympians and Paralympians, Olympic and World Championship medalists, Abbott World Marathon Majors champions, and arguably the best field of American distance women assembled outside of a national track championships. The race is also sold out with over 10,000 entries.
“I always look forward to the Mastercard New York Mini 10-K, and I’m excited to race it for the fourth year in a row,” said two-time USA Olympian Emily Sisson, who just set a 10-K personal best of 31:03 in Manchester, England, last Sunday. “It’s a special chance to reconnect with my Olympic teammates, compete with some of the top women athletes, and run alongside 10,000 inspiring women brought together by a shared love of the sport.”
At the front of the race, 2024 Kenyan Olympic teammates Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi will renew their road racing rivalry. At the Paris Olympics last August Obiri finished one place ahead of Lokedi, taking the bronze medal with Lokedi just four seconds behind. But at this year’s Boston Marathon it was Lokedi who finished ahead of Obiri, winning her first Boston Marathon and her second Abbott World Marathon Majors event. She was the runner-up to 2024 Mini champion, Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia, who will not be defending her title this year.
“New York City has been a special place for me ever since I won the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon in my debut,” Lokedi said through a media release. “I’m excited to be back competing in Central Park after winning my first United Airlines NYC Half in March and the Boston Marathon (in April) to continue the momentum as I take on my third Mastercard New York Mini 10-K.”
Three other athletes from Africa –Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia, and Grace Nawowuna and Viola Cheptoo of Kenya– also hope to add their names to the Mini’s prestigious winners’ list. Gebreslase was the 2022 world marathon champion in Eugene, Ore., and won the silver medal at the 2023 edition of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in 2023. Nawowuna, who is only 21, was fourth at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships and has a fast 30:27 10-K personal best. Cheptoo, a younger sister of five-time world indoor/outdoor track champion Bernard Lagat, was the runner-up at the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon. She is coming back from a hip injury.
The strength of the American field is noteworthy. With the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled to begin in late July instead of the usual late June, USA athletes have a clear window to compete at the Mini and have plenty of time to recover for the track championships. That allowed many of the very best 10-K women –Weini Kelati, Taylor Roe, Sisson, Amanda Vestri, Emma Grace Hurley, Emily Durgin, Emily Infeld, Annie Frisbie, Dakotah Popehn, and Erika Kemp– to all compete at the race.
Kelati, the 2024 USA Olympic Trials 10,000m champion, has never competed at the Mini. She has a fast 10-K personal best of 30:50 set en route to her national half-marathon record of 1:06:09 at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon last January. Roe –who is the USATF 10-K record holder with a 30:56 personal best set en route to her national 10-mile record and world best of 49:53 at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile last month– is also a Mini rookie. Vestri had a breakthrough performance at last year’s Mini, finishing fourth in a personal best 31:17, and Hurley was the runner-up to Roe at the 2025 USATF Half-Marathon Championships in Atlanta. She just ran a personal best of 31:00 in Tokyo on May 3.
Susannah Scaroni hopes to win the professional wheelchair division of the Mini for the sixth time. The four-time Paralympian and recent Boston Marathon champion broke her own event record in the wheelchair division the last time she competed in 2023, and has won all five editions of the professional wheelchair division since it was added to the Mini in 2018.
“I’m thrilled to return to the Mastercard New York Mini 10-K and defend my title for the sixth time,” Scaroni said through a statement. “It’s always such an empowering race that brings together world-class athletes, women of all ages, and girls representing the future of the sport participating in the (companion) Girls Run.”
Some of the best women in the history of distance running have been Mini champions including Norway’s Grete Waitz (five wins between 1979 and 1984), Kenya’s Tegla Loroupe (five wins between 1993 and 2000), the Netherlands’ Lornah Kiplagat (four wins between 2003 and 2007), Britain’s Paula Radcliffe (2001), and Kenya’s Mary Keitany (three wins from 2015 to 2018). The last American athlete to win the Mini was Sara Hall in 2021.
The 2024 Mini, which was held in sunny and warm conditions, had a race-record 9,688 finishers.
ENTRY LIST – ELITE RUNNER DIVISION
Hellen Obiri (KEN), Boulder, Colo., 30:15 (Manchester, 2022)
Grace Nawowuna (KEN), Iten, Kenya, 30:27 (Lille, 2024)
Gotytom Gebreslase (ETH), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 30:32 (Manchester, 2024)
Weini Kelati (USA), Flagstaff, Ariz., 30:50+ (Houston, 2025)
Sharon Lokedi (KEN, Flagstaff, Ariz., 30:52 (Mini, 2022)
Viola Cheptoo (KEN), Iten, Kenya, 30:55 (Phoenix, 2019)
Taylor Roe (USA), Raleigh, N.C., 30:56+ NR (Washington, D.C., 2025)
Emma Grace Hurley (USA), Indianapolis, Ind., 31:00 (Tokyo, 2025)
Emily Sisson (USA), Providence, R.I., 31:03 (Manchester, 2025)
Laura Galvan (MEX), Guanajuato, Mexico, 31:14 (Mini, 2023)
Amanda Vestri (USA), Boone, N.C., 31:17 (Mini, 2024)
Emily Durgin (USA), Flagstaff, Ariz., 31:35 (Mini, 2023)
Juliette Thomas (BEL), Brussels, Belgium, 31:41 (Valenciennes, 2025)
Emily Infeld (USA), Portland, Ore., 31:47 (Boston, 2013)
Annie Frisbie (USA), Hopkins, Minn., 31:49 (Mini, 2024)
Dakotah Popehn (USA), Burnsville, Minn., 31:58 (Mini, 2024)
Florencia Borelli (ARG), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 31:59 (Miramar, Fla., 2023)
Fionnuala McCormack (40+/IRL), Dublin, Ireland, 32:08 (Meath, Ireland, 2022)
Erika Kemp (USA), Providence, R.I., 32:14 (Boston, 2022)
Stephanie Bruce (40+/USA), Flagstaff, Ariz., 32:21 (Atlanta, 2018)
Susanna Sullivan (USA), Reston, Va., 32:24+ (Houston, 2025)
Emily Venters (USA), Salt Lake City, Utah, 32:31 (Boston, 2023)
Tristin Colley (USA), Boone, N.C., 32:34 (New York, 2023)
Yuka Ando (JPN), Tokyo, 32:37 (Okayama, 2012)
Kim Conley (USA), Flagstaff, Ariz., 32:38 (Boston, 2015)
Dani Polerecky (USA), Flagstaff, Ariz., 32:57 (Mesa, Ariz., 2024)
Rose Harvey (GBR), London, England, 32:59 (Manchester, 2024)
Annamaria Kostarellis (USA), Albuquerque, N.M., 33:09 (Northport, N.Y., 2024)
Jackie Gaughan (USA), Boston, Mass., 33:19 (Cape Elizabeth, Maine, 2024)
Megan Hasz (USA), Dorchester, Mass., 33:22 (Boston, 2024)
Mica Rivera Wood (PER), Logan, Utah, 33:33+ (Houston, 2025)
Gabi Rooker (USA), Minneapolis, Minn., 33:33+ (Atlanta, 2025)
Anna Oeser (USA), Brookline, Mass., 33:43 (Boston, 2023)
Alexandra Lucki (CAN), Boston, Mass., 33:57 (Toronto, 2021)
Khia Kurtenbach (USA), New York, N.Y., 34:18 (New York, 2025)
Sara Vaughn (USA), Boulder, Colo., 34:38 (Boston, 2022)
Aileen Barry (40+/USA), Manhasset, N.Y., 35:04 (New York, 2009)
Alyssa Salese (USA), Huntington, N.Y., 35:26 (Mini, 2022)
Alexandra Conway (USA), New York, N.Y., 36:07 (Flushing, N.Y., 2023)
Abigail Shoemaker (USA), New York, N.Y., 37:36 (New York, 2022)
Katarina Mayer (CAN), New York, N.Y., 38:04 (New York, 2025)
Kathryn Fluehr (USA), Boulder, Colo., Debut
Bailey Hertenstein (USA), Boulder, Colo., Debut
Kidan Kidane (USA), New York, N.Y., Debut
Felicia Pasadyn (USA), New York, N.Y., Debut
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+Time achieved en route to a longer distance
ENTRY LIST – ELITE WHEELCHAIR DIVISION –
Susannah Scaroni (USA), Champaign, Ill., 21:06 (Mini, 2023)
Tatyana McFadden (USA), Baltimore, 23:14 (Atlanta, 2016)
Hannah Dederick (USA), Champaign, Ill., 25:28 (Mini, 2022)
Michelle Wheeler (USA), Dallas, 26:04 (Mini, 2023)
Hoda Elshorbagy (EGY), Champaign, Ill., 26:52 (Boston, 2024)
Chelsea Stein (USA), Spring, Texas, 28:24 (Atlanta, 2024)
Linden Williamson (USA), Boerne, Texas, 30:27 (Atlanta, 2024)
April Coughlin (USA), New York, 38:16 (Mini, 2024)
Rachel Cleaver (USA), Beloit, Texas, Debut
PHOTO: The lead pack at the two-mile mark of the 2024 Mastercard New York Mini 10-K (left to right), Jess McClain, Dakotah Popehn, Emily Durgin (partially obscured), Sharon Lokedi, Emma Grace Hurley, Annie Frisbie (mostly obscured), Senbere Teferi, Sheila Chepkirui, and Sara Hall (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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