Field of 10,000 Women Expected for Run

More than 10,000 runners are expected to compete in Sunday’s 14th annual Mobil St. Patrick’s Day Run that begins at 8 a.m. at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance.

The all-woman elite division offers a $20,000 purse--one of the largest for an all-woman race in the United States. The winner earns $7,500.

This year’s elite field is the strongest ever, according to race promoter Rochelle Baker.

The group of international competitors includes Poland’s Wanda Panfil, Scotland’s Yvonne Murray and Americans Elaine Van Blunk, Trina Painter and Linda Somers. Russia’s Olga Markova, last year’s winner, withdrew from the race on Wednesday because of an injury.

Panfil, 34, who placed second last year, is the winner of four international marathons, including the 1990 London and New York City marathons. She also won the Boston Marathon and the 1991 International Amateur Athletic Federation World Champion Marathon in Tokyo.

Murray, 28, is the United Kingdom’s top-ranked female in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters and No. 2 in the world in the 3,000 meters. She was a gold medalist at the 1989 and 1990 European Indoor Championships and 1989 World Cup in Barcelona.

Van Blunk, 28, will represent the United States at the 1993 World Cross Country Championships in Spain later this month. Painter, 26, won the 10,000-meter title at the Mt. San Antonio College relays in 1991 and the 1992 Parkersburg half marathon.

Somers, 31, is the 1993 Long Beach Marathon winner with a time of two hours 38.42 minutes. She also won the 1992 Chicago Marathon in 2:37.41.

“The invitational used to be co-ed,” Baker said. “But the organization that puts it on is made up of 50 women, so they decided (that) to make the event more powerful they needed to recognize women athletes. It’s one of the largest as far as prize money for women.”

The race is organized by the Redondo Beach-based Vistas for Blind Children. The 50-woman service organization was started 15 years ago to benefit blind children and their families.

“For the last eight years or so we’ve had elite men and women,” said Suzy Broeg, president of Vistas for Blind Children. “But last year the idea seemed that we needed to promote women athletes.”