BAA and Tufts off to the races

The eighth Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon kicks off a two-day rush of road racing in Boston this morning. The BAA race begins bright and early in the Fens, at 8 a.m., taking more than 5,000 runners out to Franklin Park Zoo and back through the Emerald Necklace park system.

Tomorrow, the 32d edition of the Tufts 10K leaves Boston Common at noon, 7,000 women racing down Memorial Drive along the Charles River, and then along Commonwealth Avenue, ending on Charles Street between the Public Garden and the Common.

A strong and deep field of elite men and women will be competing for $30,000 in prize money at the BAA Half Marathon, $5,000 each to the male and female champions.

The BAA course records are 1 hour 2 minutes 20 seconds, set by Tom Nyariki in 2007, and 1:10:57, run by Marie Davenport in 2003.

In the men's race, the top contenders include a quartet of Kenyan men who train together with the KIMbia Athletics program: Charles Munyeki, Gilbert Okari, John Korir, and James Koskei. Munyeki, 22, is the youngest entrant in the elite men's field. He has run the half marathon 12 times, and last month ran the Rotterdam Half Marathon in 59:44, making him the 10th fastest man of the year.

Okari, however, has to be the favorite, after the 30-year-old won the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in San Jose last week in a personal-record 1:01:46. Munyeki was fifth in 1:02:15.

Koskei, 39, who was fourth in this year's Boston Marathon, is only a month from joining the Masters division.

Korir was the Running Times Road Racer of the Year in 2003 and 2005, and has run the half marathon in 1:01:00.

Another young Kenyan, Abraham Ng'etich, just graduated from Iona College, where he was an NCAA Division 1 cross-country All-American in 2007. Ng'etich, 27, ran his first half marathon in New York in July, clocking 1:05:52.

Moroccan Karim El Mabchour, 26, has a personal best of 1:03:11 in the half marathon, posted in 2007 in Philadelphia.

James Gale, a 23-year-old from Michigan and a two-time NCAA Division 2 All-American, has a half marathon best of 1:06:23.

Leading the elite women is Lioudmila Kortchaguina, 37, the fastest half marathoner in the field with a best of 1:10:50 in 2003. She has raced more than 40 times at the distance.

She will be challenged by Kenyan Irene Limika, 29, who ran a personal-record 1:10:51 in finishing third at the Philadelphia Distance Run Sept. 21.

Limika trains with four-time Boston Marathon champion Catherine Ndereba in Norristown, Pa., as do two other Kenyans competing today: Neriah Asiba of Kenya, who has a PR of 1:10:58, and 21-year-old Jane Murage, who is making her debut at the distance.

Ethiopian Azalech Masresch, only 20, set a PR of 1:10:36 in the San Jose Half Marathon.

Kathy Newberry, 30, is the top returning finisher from 2007, when she was third. Newberry set a personal record of 1:12:59 at the Houston Half Marathon in January.

One of the most intriguing entries was to be Zola Pieterse, who was once known as South African teenager Zola Budd, running barefoot to world records in the 1980s.

But Pieterse, now 42, the mother of three, and living in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was forced to withdraw yesterday because of illness.

This year's Tufts Health Plan 10K again serves as the USA National 10K Women's Championship, the 14th time it has been selected.

The 10K championship is the final race on the 2008 USA Running Circuit. Among the top runners expected are 2003 champion Elva Dryer, who was third here last year, and two-time US 8K champion Amy Rudolph of Providence, sixth-place finisher at Falmouth in August.

The elite field includes Molly Huddle, who was third this year at the US 5K championships; the 5K runner-up, Renee Metivier-Baille; Ann Alyanak, seventh at the US marathon trials; and Rebecca Donaghue, fifth here last year.

The race, which also includes hundreds of women who are recreational runners, is shepherded by spokeswoman Joan Benoit Samuelson, a three-time Tufts 10K winner.

Benoit Samuelson set a master's record last year at 50 years old.

Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com.