The reigning world half marathon champion and world 25K record holder, Mary Keitany of Kenya, will make her marathon debut at the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 7, the New York Road Runners announced today. Keitany was just one of eight professional athletes the Road Runners revealed would take part in the 41st edition of the world’s largest marathon. Mary Keitany will make her marathon debut in New York this fall. Photo: PhotoRun.net Keitany, 28, who is coached by Italian Gabriele Nicola in Iten, has developed over the last four seasons into the world’s most dominant female half marathon runner. In 2007 Keitany set what was then the Kenyan half marathon record of 1:06:48 while winning the silver medal at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Udine, Italy. She took maternity leave in 2008, but was back in top form by the fall of 2009 when she took the gold medal at the same championships in Birmingham, England, in a sizzling 1:06:36, a championships and Kenyan record. Last May, she shattered the world 25K record in Berlin, running 1:19:53. “It will be my debut at the marathon distance and I have no idea how my body will react in the last miles,” Keitany said through a media release. ”But, I’m confident for the new challenge in front of me.” Women making their marathon debuts in New York have often run well, and several have been victorious, including Norway’s Grete Waitz (1978), Scotland’s Liz McColgan (1991) and Kenya’s Tegla Loroupe (1994). Read more: http://running.competitor.com/2010/08/news/keitany-to-debut-at-nyc-marathon_12539#ixzz0xfZx7XS2