Benson Cherono winning Beijing Marathon (© Getty Images)
The Samsung Milano City Marathon which has changed from its early- December date to early autumn, aims at becoming the fastest marathon race in Italy this year when it is held this Sunday 8 October.
MEN - 2:08:38 the target
On a new flat and fast course from Corso Venezia to Piazza del Duomo the Kenyans Benson Cherono (PB 2:08:40) and Benson Barus (in his debut over the marathon distance) will be looking to dip under 2:08:38 which by coincidence is both the fastest time of the year in Italy set by Kenyan David Mandango Kipkorir in Rome and the Milan course record held by Daniel Cheribo in 2004.
Cherono ran his career best in Los Angeles on 19 March 2006 with 2:08:40. He also won the 2005 Bejing Marathon and claims a third place in Boston in 2005 and a fifth place in New York in 2004.
Barus will line-up for the first time in his career in a marathon race after a good test in the Rotterdam Half Marathon where he ran 60:17, the eighth fastest time in 2006. Barus is a well-known name to Italian fans as he has won many top Italian road races like the Giro di Castelbuono, the Golden Shoe in Vigevano, the Amatrice-Configno and the Trofeo Sant’Agata in Catania.
Among the Ethiopians lining up in Milan the most interesting name is Araya Haregot who finished third in Seoul on 12 March in 2:11:56.
To help the Africans to pursue a fast time there will be reigning Olympic and European champion Stefano Baldini who is planning to run 25 km in Milan in his build-up to the New York Marathon on 5 November. After a much-deserved mid-summer holiday following his European triumph Baldini won the national half marathon title in his home-town Rubiera on 10 September and finished a good fifth in the star-studded Great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields last Sunday where he clocked 62:42.
Baldini, who serves as the “ambassador” of the Milan Marathon for the third consecutive year, will also be the lead-off of a special relay called “Running under the European sky” teaming up with 24 students from each of the 25 member states of the European Union who study in the Milan Universities.
“This will be a great opportunity to send a message of friendship”, said Baldini who attended the launch of this initiative in the European Parliament in Strasburg last week.
WOMEN - Kimutai returns to defend title
The battle between Kenya and Ethiopia will also highlight the women’s race where last year’s Milan Marathon winner Hellen Kimutai will be looking to his second consecutive victory in this northern Italian race against Ethiopian Assale Tafa and Kenyans Anne Kosgei and Fridah Lodepa. The latter makes her debut in the marathon.
Kimutai, who won last year in 2:28:48 on a cold December morning, finished ninth at the World Championships in Helsinki in 2:26:14 and has a PB of 2:25:52 set at the Hamburg Marathon in 2003. She will attack the fastest time set in Italy this year held by Ukraine’s Tetyana Hladyr who ran 2:25:44 in Rome last March.
Twenty-two year-old Tafa produced the best result of her career in the Berlin Marathon in 2005 where she finished third in 2:28:27. This year Kimutai, mother of four children, has already squared off against Tafa in the San Diego Marathon where she finished runner-up in 2:28:44 ahead of the Ethiopian, who was fourth in 2:29:47.
Not to be written off is Kenyan Anne Kosgei, who has already run Italian marathons in Venice (second in 2002 in 2:30:09) and Carpi (second in 2003 in 2:33:43).
History
Last year’s winner, Portuguese Helder Ornelas is the only non-african to claim victory in the history of the men’s race in Milan. The race has launched the careers of future stars like Simon Biwott, winner in the first edition in 2000 some months before his silver medal in the 2001 Edmonton World Championships, and Robert Cheruiyot, who crossed the finish-line first in 2002 and went on to win two Boston Marathons in 2003 and 2006. In the last edition of Boston he ran a PB of 2:07:14.
Milan was also the springboard for Rita Jeptoo who, after her Milan success in 2004, ran the best marathon race of her career in Boston last spring where she won in 2:23:38 (PB). Notably multiple New York and Boston winner Margaret Okayo took the honours in the 2002 edition of the Milan Marathon in 2:24:59 which still stands as the all-comers record for the women’s marathon in Italy.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
