体坛英语新闻：Houston marathon to kick off 40th anniversary bash

HOUSTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- More than 28,000 runners will take to the streets of the fourth largest U.S. city of Houston on Sunday as the Chevron Houston Marathon, Aramco Houston Half Marathon and El Paso Corporation 5K top off perhaps the biggest weekend of road racing ever seen in this country, organizers said Friday.

"The entire racing industry has descended on Houston this weekend," Wade Morehead, executive director of the Houston Marathon Committee, said at a press conference Friday.

This weekend's lineup of races "shows that we know how to put on a world-class event," said Houston Mayor Annise Parker, adding thanks to volunteers, city employees and title sponsors of the races.

"All of you are not only sponsoring a sporting event, but you're supporting the city of Houston."

On Saturday, the men's and women's U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon will be held on the same day and the same course for the first time ever, to pick up three men and three women runners for the U.S. Olympic squad for London 2012.

On Sunday, the Chevron Houston Marathon will celebrate its 40th anniversary, expecting to raise even more than the 2.1 million U.S. dollars it did in 2011 for the Run for a Reason charity program.