Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Question: Can Jelena Prokopcuka win the Boston Marathon Monday?

Answer: Only her hair dresser may know.

The Latvian winner of the ING New York City Marathon last fall showed up at the Copley Plaza ball room Friday morning with her hair a darker shade than pale. At first she denied a color change. Then she confessed. “Okay, maybe a little bit,” she said. “But I didn’t go from light to dark. Just a shade darker. It makes me, maybe, a bit more serious.”

Aside from changing her hair color this spring, Prokopcuka has been training in Richmond Park in London. The hills there, she said, have prepared her for a stern test in Boston. “A lot of runners don’t like a lot of hills,” she said. “Boston is a very tough course, and a lot of runners say “No” to Boston because of that. But Boston is honest and I like those hills. I like them because I have strong legs.”

Her strategy on Monday will depend. “If some runners go out very fast I will run from behind,” she said. “If I feel it is a very slow time, I will start to run faster.”

The 2002 London Marathon winner Rieko Tosa, Prokopcuka said, is the competition she is looking most keenly at. With their deep talent pool, a win by a Japanese woman here in Boston could usher back in a golden age of Japanese marathoning in New England, in this case women’s marathoning. (Japanese men were a major force in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1980s.) Yet first there are 15 miles or so of down hills to run. “And after that, we will decide either to be fast of slow,” said Prokopcuka.

Negussie and Onsare Calm and Confident

On the men’s side, defending champ Hailu Negussie was almost a forgotten man during the questioning. Athletes from each nation sat at table with their national flags and most of the media crush was at the American table. Negussie, however, appeared relaxed about all of it, almost as if he did not want the attention.

“I have done good training back home in Ethiopia to prepare for Boston,” he said. “I am ready but as for who is going to win? It is difficult for me to say. First, I don’t know all the competition. Second, the weather will be cooler than last year and that will be great for me, but because the race does not have a pace maker you do not know how things will go.”

Beside him last year’s runner-up Wilson Onsare confessed he was hoping to do one better Monday. “I am wishing that a win will happen,” the Kenyan said. “But I will also be comfortable with a good performance, and with the weather for Monday those performances should be good.”

Last year Negussie broke from Onsare at mile 20. “I will be ready for a big move at 20 miles this year,” said Onsare, who has the best PB in the field, 2:06:47 at Paris in 2003.

“Ready and feeling good. I believe I can do something good on Monday. To win or run under 2:10.”

Or both.

Dave Kuehls for the IAAF