FLAGSTAFF, (AZ) – August 28, 2019 – HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite has announced that Alice Wright will make her marathon debut at the 2019 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 13. Race organizers released the entire international field this morning and the list includes defending champion, Brigid Kosgei of Kenya, her compatriot Betsy Saina, Mexico’s Madai Perez, and Lisa Weightman of Australia. Kosgei, Saina, Perez and Weightman have all run under 2:30 for the marathon. They join previously announced Americans Jordan Hasay, Emma Bates and Wright’s teammate, Stephanie Bruce, as the event’s top seeds.

Wright, an eight-time first team All American while at the University of New Mexico, joined HOKA NAZ Elite in the summer of 2018. In her first year as a professional she finished sixth at the 2018 European Championships in the 10,000 meters and set personal bests at 5,000 meters (15:45.51), 10,000 meters (31:56.52), and the half marathon (1:11:38).

Wright said that after a year of adjusting to higher mileage and shifting her focus from the track to the roads, she is ready to tackle the marathon distance.

“I’ve always had my eyes on the marathon ever since I started running competitively, and although I know it’ll likely be one of the toughest races I’ve ever run, I couldn’t be more excited to line up in Chicago this October for my debut marathon.”

HOKA NAZ Elite coach Ben Rosario said that Wright has been slowly adapting to marathon training since she arrived in Flagstaff a year ago.

“Alice came here knowing she wanted the run a marathon sooner than later, which made my job easier because it allowed me to sprinkle marathon specific workouts in over the course of these last 12 months, and she was all for it,” Rosario said. “Now that we are in the actual build-up to Chicago, these workouts are not completely foreign to her and she is handling everything as well as you could possibly hope for a debutant.”

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About HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite
HOKA Northern Arizona Elite is a professional sports organization whose mission is to recruit, develop and produce distance runners to compete at the very highest level of international athletics and operate as a successful business by building a global fan base for the team and its athletes through comprehensive and ongoing marketing efforts on a local, national and international level. For more information visit www.nazelite.com.