Here’s a release from the Vermont City Marathon highlighting this year’s invited athletes. The men are up first, to be followed by the ladies shortly.

KBVCM Invited Athlete – Men’s Top Seed Highlights – 2014

Blair Teal – Gastonia, NC.  First time KBVCM participant who has run 2:20:31 in 2011 and 2:21:20 in 2013 in North Carolina marathons.  He is in great shape and looking to break the 2:18 (O.T. std mark) in Burlington.

Dave Berdan – Owings Mills, MD.  Another first-time KBVCM runner who has run 2:21 in the past year and several low 2:20’s marathons over the past couple of years.  Recently ran 51:24 in a 10-miler in the Baltimore area.  Dave is also in great shape and focused on the 2:18 O.T. goal at VCM.

Pelletier strikes a familiar pose at VCM (2012), courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

Matt Pelletier – W.Greenwich, RI.  Matt is a 4-time KBVCM Overall Champion who ran 2:19:02 as a runner-up last year in a classic battle with Chris Zablocki.  Matt’s coming off a winter injury and is focused on running strong again at VCM but not sure if he will be in shape to break the 2:20 mark.

Tyler Andrews – Concord, MA. Another first-time KBVCM racer who recently finished Boston in 2:21:30 (1^st sub-25 year old finisher).  Tyler hopes to recover over the next few weeks and run as part of the lead-pack aiming for a sub-2:20 finish.  Tyler is the WR-holder 1/2M treadmill at 1:07:18!

Michael Wardian – Alexandria, VA (DC suburb).  Mike is a multi-time KBVCM Men’s Open Runner-up who is now a Masters athlete and just ran 2:23:30 at Boston then 2:27:45 a week later at the Big Sur marathon.  Mike recently won the North Pole marathon in far northern Norway.  Mike is also the 4-time US 50K championship winner.  An “unofficial” ambassador of KBVCM.

Several Open Men will be running KBVCM as their “inaugural” marathon who have fast 1/2M results over the past 18 months….Will Sanders (Andover, MA), Timothy Mulligan (Whiting, NJ) and Jonathan Charlesworth (Boston, MA) could run in the mid-2:20’s.

We also have a strong Masters Men field (behind Wardian).  1^st time KBVCM participant James McQuade (New York, NY),  2010 VCM runner-up Bob Landry (Ludlow, MA) and runner-up Tom Thurston (Waterbury, VT) entered.  All three of these men have the potential to run under 2:40 this year.

Top Vermonters:

Josh Ferenc – Saxtons River, VT.   Josh is returning to KBVCM for the 3^rd consecutive year in 2014.  Josh has taken the top Vermont Men’s title the past two years with very solid 4^th and 6^th place Overall finishes.  Josh’s marathon PR is 2:30:51 which he set in 2011 at  KBVCM.  Josh won the Stowe 8-miler and FJG Race to the Top of VT (Mt.Mansfield) in 2012 and has an ultra-marthon/mountain-trail running background.  Josh is a science teacher at Bellows Falls High School.

Tom Thurston – Waterbury, VT.  Tom has become a perennial top Men’s Master finisher at KBVCM having placed 3^rd in 2011 and 2012 and made a last mile surge in 2013 to grab the 2^nd Master Men slot.  Tom has lowered his marathon PR each of the last 3 years finishing in 2:41:50  in 2013.  Tom works as an elementary school teacher in Waterbury and has an Olympic Trials bicycling background.  We will be looking for Tom to run strong again in 2014.

New News:

Several Ethiopians have registered for KBVCM in the past week.  In the men’s division, Getachew Asfar has run 2:24:22 Cowtown Texas Marathon (Feb ’14) and 2:20:49 at the Kentucky Derby Marathon (April ’14) .  He has a PR of 2:15:59 at the Akron Marathon in Sept. 2013.

Suleman Abrar ran 2:25:16 at Balbao Spain in 2013 and won the Cleveland Marathon last weekend in 2:24:15.  Can Suleman run in the low 2:20’s or faster a week after his win?  We’ll see this Sunday.

Both of these athletes reside in the Baltimore, MD area and will travel to Burlington with their personal rep/agent.