Mariana Chirilă (née Stănescu; born 7 September 1964) is a Romanian female distance runner who competed in events ranging from 800 metres to the marathon. Individually she won gold medals in the 3000 metres at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1992 Balkan Athletics Championships, and won the senior race at the Balkan Cross Country Championships in 1985.Goodwill Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2020-03-16.Balkan Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2020-03-16.Balkan Cross Country. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 2020-03-17. She represented her country at the European Athletics Championships in 1986, twice at the Universiade (1987 and 1991), and twice at the IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships (1984 and 1990). Her highest global ranking was eighth in the 3000 m for the 1986 season.Mariana Stanescu. Track and Field Statistics. Retrieved 2020-03-16.

Chirilă had most of her success with Romanian women's teams at international events in cross country and road running. She was a seven-time participant at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 1985 to 1997, including team bronze medals in 1985 (alongside Fița Lovin, Elena Fidatov, and Olympic champion Paula Ivan) and 1996 (alongside Gabriela Szabo, Fidatov and Iulia Olteanu). She ran three times at the European Cross Country Championships and scored points to bring Romania to the team title with Fidatov and Margareta Keszeg in 1994, as well as a team silver with Fidatov and Stela Olteanu in 1997.Mariana Chirila. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 2020-03-17. She had much success at the Balkan Cross Country Championships, taking the individual gold in 1985, silver in 1986, 1987 and 1994, as well as perfect-score team titles in all those years with runners including Fidatov, Ivan and Luminita Gogirlea.

In road running, Chirilă competed many times for Romania in ekiden marathon relays. She won minor team medals at three consecutive editions of the IAAF World Road Relay Championships from 1994 to 1998, sharing the honours with Daniela Petrescu, Alina Gherasim, Anuța Cătună, Florina Pană and Olympic champion Constantina Diță among others.IAAF World Road Relay Championships. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2004-03-27). Retrieved on 2013-09-30. Other outings in the marathon relay resulted in victories at the International Chiba Ekiden and Barcelona Ekiden in 1990 and second place finishes twice at both the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden and Beijing International Women's Ekiden.

At national level, she was a four-time winner at the Romanian Cross Country Championships, winning three straight titles from 1985 to 1987 and a final win in 1994. At the Romanian Athletics Championships, she was runner-up over 10,000 metres in 1985 and over 3000 m in 1994. She also had top three finishes in the 3000 m at the 1986 Romanian Indoor Athletics Championships and at the 2001 Romanian Half Marathon Championships. On the professional circuit she won at the 1997 Le Lion Half Marathon and 1998 Belfast International Cross Country. She ran at the Debno Marathon in 1990 but did not take on the distance for a second time, after finishing in eighth in 2:52:51 hours.

International competitions 1984World Women's Road Race ChampionshipsMadrid, Spain48th10K38:281985Balkan Cross Country Championships1stSenior race13:20.71stTeam6 ptsWorld Cross Country ChampionshipsLisbon, Portugal48thSenior race16:163rdTeam96 pts1986Balkan Cross Country Championships2ndSenior race13:51.11stTeam6 ptsWorld Cross Country ChampionshipsColombier, Switzerland31stSenior race15:40.38thTeam140 ptsGoodwill GamesMoscow, Soviet Union1st3000 m8:38.8310th5000 m15:45.10European ChampionshipsStuttgart, West Germany9th (heats)3000 m9:02:571987Balkan Cross Country Championships2ndSenior race12:35.71stTeam6 ptsWorld Cross Country ChampionshipsWarsaw, Poland6thSenior race17:044thTeam94 ptsUniversiadeZagreb, Yugoslavia8th3000 m9:13.071990World Cross Country ChampionshipsAix-les-Bains, France80thSenior race20:504thTeam102 ptsNon-scoring performanceWorld Women's Road Race ChampionshipsDublin, Ireland46th15K53:39.1International Chiba EkidenChiba, Japan3rd5K16:291stTeamBarcelona EkidenBarcelona, Spain6th5.3K19:001stTeam1991World Cross Country ChampionshipsAntwerp, Belgium86thSenior race22:147thTeam148 ptsUniversiadeSheffield, United Kingdom13th10,000 m34:06.01Yokohama International Women's EkidenYokohama, Japan6th10K33:252ndMarathon relay2:18:121992Balkan ChampionshipsSofia, Bulgaria1st3000 m9:17.921994Balkan Cross Country Championships2ndSenior race12:44.41stTeam6 ptsWorld Road Relay ChampionshipsLitochoro, Greece2nd5K16:023rdMarathon relay2:19:18European Cross Country ChampionshipsAlnwick, United Kingdom7thSenior race14:481stTeam26 pts1995Yokohama International Women's EkidenYokohama, Japan8th10K34:02?Marathon relayBeijing International Women's EkidenBeijing, China5th5K16:302ndMarathon relay2:17:10International Chiba EkidenChiba, Japan3rd7K23:403rdMarathon relay2:20:26International Ekiden. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2020-03-17.European Cross Country ChampionshipsAlnwick, United Kingdom25thSenior race14:382ndTeam23 pts1996Yokohama International Women's EkidenYokohama, Japan2nd7.2K23:062ndMarathon relay2:16:35Beijing International Women's EkidenBeijing, China2nd10K33:502ndMarathon relayWorld Cross Country ChampionshipsStellenbosch, South Africa32ndSenior race21:263rdTeam70 ptsWorld Road Relay ChampionshipsCopenhagen, Denmark5th10K33:212ndMarathon relay2:18:41International Chiba EkidenChiba, Japan6th10K32:333rdMarathon relay2:17:481997World Cross Country ChampionshipsTurin, Italy32ndSenior race22:2511thTeam189 ptsEuropean Cross Country ChampionshipsOeiras, Portugal5thSenior race18:102ndTeam22 pts1998World Road Relay ChampionshipsManaus, Brazil3rd5K17:153rdTeam2:24:13

National titles Romanian Cross Country Championships: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1994Romanian Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2020-03-16.

Circuit wins Cross Internacional del Calzado: 1997 Le Lion Half Marathon: 1997 Antrim International Cross Country: 1998

Personal bests 800 metres – 2:00.49 (1986) 1500 metres – 4:06.67 (1987) Mile run – 4:25.52 (1986) 3000 metres – 8:38.83 (1986) 5000 metres – 15:41.36 (1986) Half marathon – 1:12:36 (1997) Marathon – 2:52:51 (1990)

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