Adriana Pirtea

Who is Adriana Pirtea?

Adriana Nelson, née Pirtea, is an American long-distance runner who made her marathon debut in the Chicago Marathon held on October 7, 2007 with a second place finish. She led by a few dozen meters in the final 300 meter stretch run down Columbus Drive on a day of record setting 88 °F temperatures, but she was caught just before the tape by defending Chicago Marathon women's champion, Berhane Adere. Pirtea had held a 30 second lead with 600 meters remaining but never looked back as Adere slipped down the right side of the final straightaway under the shield of male runners. Adere was so far to the right that as she crossed the finish line she did not take the tape which was being held at the left side of the finish line. The 2007 Chicago Marathon was the slowest women's Chicago finish since 1992 due to the heat. Pirtea had been a pacemaker at the January 28, 2007 running of the Osaka Ladies Marathon and an injury prevented her from making her marathon debut at the London Marathon on April 22, 2007.

She became the Romanian national champion in both the 5K and 10K. She graduated from University of Texas at El Paso in 2005. Pirtea has run the half marathon in 1:09:57 and placed 10th at the World Half Marathon Championships held on October 1, 2005 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This tenth place finish contributed to the Romanian team gold medal at the World Half Marathon Championships in which 2004 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Women's Champion Constantina Tomescu-Dita placed first for the Romanians, Mihaela Botezan placed 5th and Nuţa Olaru placed 8th.