Courtesy: Avon Running

A world class field and 3000 other women of all abilities will toe the starting line on Sunday, November 10 in the fourth Avon Running Global Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sponsored by Avon Cosmetics (Thailand) Co. Ltd, and held under royal patronage and in conjunction with the Amateur Athletics Association of Thailand, the event benefits the National Cancer Institute of Thailand.

The AIMS and IAAF certified 10- kilometer downtown course will run past some of Bangkok's most historic monuments and sacred temples and will finish at the famous equestrian statue of King Rama V.

Heading the field will be surprise starter Tegla Loroupe, former world record holder in the women's marathon, two-time winner of the New York City Marathon and the 1999 Avon Running Global Champion. Loroupe has announced that she is coming to Bangkok to race and to accompany one of her training partners, Restituta Joseph from Tanzania. The two women train together in Detmold, Germany and Joseph won her trip by winning the Avon Running 10K of Berlin in May, 2001.

The Avon Running Global Championship features the winners from 13 Avon races in 12 countries who have won their way to the event. No other elite athletes are paid to race in Bangkok, although any woman is welcome to sign up and start. Since Loroupe did not win her trip, she is financing her own travels, a welcome surprise for race organizers. The total prize purse for the event is 700,000 Thai Baht, or $ 17, 760. First prize is $5,000.

Five runners from the United States won berths to compete in Bangkok based on their placing in the Avon Running USA National event held in December 2001, in Phoenix, AZ. These runners are:

Amy Yoder Begley, 24, Kendallville, IN, won the Avon Running National race in Phoenix, in December 2001 in 33:38, and has a personal best of 33:02. That same year she was graduated from the University of Arkansas where she was 2001 NCAA Woman of the Year (Arkansas), 2001 SEC Female Athlete of the Year, and 2001 NCAA 10K Champion, Eugene, OR. In 2002 Yoder- Begley won a Roads Scholarship Grant from the Road Runners Club of America.

Kristin Harper, 26, Santa Monica, CA, was second in Avon Running Phoenix in 34:04. Harper runs for Track West out of Santa Monica. She was a member of the USA Team for the annual Beijing International Ekiden last February. While a student at UC-Santa Barbara, she won All-Big West Conference honors in track and cross-country. In 2001 she was 3rd. at the USA fall Cross Country Championships and in 2002 recorded career bests in the 5,000 (16:06) and 10,000 (34:05) meters.

Gordon Bakoulis, 41, New York City, was third in Avon Running Phoenix in 35:07. After a nationally-ranked career that spanned 15 years and included two top-10 finishes in the New York City Marathon, being a finalist in the 1992 US Olympic 10,000 meter trials, and twice winning the Vermont City Marathon, Bakoulis now is one of the top ranked over-40 runners in the USA and won the women's master's crown in both the NYC Marathon in 2001(in 2:41) and the NYC Mini Marathon 10K (34:47). She is a five-time qualifier for the US Olympic Marathon Trials. The mother of two boys, Bakoulis is also the author of three running books.

Janet Robertz 42, Shorewood, MN, won the master's category at Avon Running Phoenix in 35:40. Earlier in 2001, she finished 2nd place overall woman in the Bix 7 race, beating 3-time and defending champion Colleen De Reuck and winning the master's title over Joan Benoit Samuelson. Subsequently in 2001 she was named National Masters Runner of the Year by USATF and Minnesota Women's Open Runner of the Year. Her 1:16:10 finish at the Garry Bjorklaund half marathon established a new all-time national record for 41- year olds, and in 2002 she lowered that standard to 1:13:36, a national age group record for 40-44 year olds.

Margo Braud, 43, Austin TX, won the Avon Representative's category at Avon Running Phoenix in 38:55, and is a top local and master runner in the Austin area. She won the master's category of the Avon Running Global Championship in Budapest, Hungary in 2001, was named Female Master Road Runner of the Year 2000 by the Road Runners Club of America, and is three time (1999,2000, 2001) master's champion and master's course record holder of the Dallas White Rock Half-Marathon in 1:21:32.

The Avon countries sending winning athletes to the Avon Running Global Championship in Bangkok include USA, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Thailand. Previous Avon Running Global Championships were held in 1999 in New York City (Tegla Loroupe, winner); in 2000 in Milan, Italy (Sonia O'Sullivan, winner); and in 2001 in Budapest, Hungary (Catherine Ndereba, winner).