Margaret Okaya
Age: 26
Country: Kenya
Personal best: 2:20:43 (Boston, 2002)

Okayo ran away with the 2002 title in the last mile of a closely fought race with two-time Boston champion and former world record-holder Catherine Ndereba. Both women shattered Uta Pippig's 1994 course mark of 2:21:45, with Okayo nearly a minute faster in a personal-best 2:20:43. The petite and powerful Kenyan has had a stellar career, crowned winner in five out of eight showings and only once out of the top three. Ranked the No. 2 marathoner in the world in 2002 by Track & Field News, Okayo followed her Boston win with a fifth place at New York (2:27:46) in November and a course-record win a month later at the Milan City Marathon. Her Milan finish of 2:24:59 was the fastest marathon ever by a woman in Italy. Okayo, employed as a prison guard, trains in Kenya and Brescia, Italy. She ran her first marathon in Chicago in 1999, finishing second to countrywoman Joyce Chepchumba in 2:26:00. In 2000, she won San Diego's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in a course-record 2:27:05 and five months later finished third at New York in 2:26:36. Okayo repeated in San Diego, improving her course record to 2:25:05. She then bettered both her time and place at New York by winning in 2:24:21 and breaking the 10-year-old course record.