Anna Incerti (© Giancarlo Colombo)
Rome, ItalyItaly's Anna Incerti and Paul Kiprop Kirui of Kenya lead their respective fields at the Acea Electrabel Maratona Città di Roma, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, which celebrates its 15th edition on Sunday (22).
The most popular Italian marathon has attracted 14,894 runners from 78 countries (8901 Italians and 5993 coming from all corners of the world). Including the 85,000 participants who are expected to take part in the popular 4.2195 km Roma Fun Run which will start at 9.15, fifteeen minutes after the 42.195 km race, the total number of participants at the Maratona Città di Roma may amount to the impressive figure of 100,000 runners.
Incerti carrying local hopes in women’s race
The organizers’ motto of this year’s Maratona Città di Roma” is Start your Dream”. This motto may be perfectly suited to Anna Incerti, the Italian top runner who will be going for a new PB and the ticket to August’s IAAF World Championships in Berlin after her impressive win in the Milano City Marathon in her lifetime best of 2:27:42 last November, setting the fifth fastest time in Italy. Incerti, the best Italian marathon runner at the Olympic Games in Bejing where she finished 14th, followed up her Milan win with another impressive display at the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon on 1 March where she won in 1:09:24 and aims to run a sub-2:27 race in Rome. A good performance in Rome may be a perfect wedding present for the 29-year-old from Bagheria near Palermo who will marry Stefano Scaini (a former European junior Cross Country bronze medallist in 2001) on 23 May.
Incerti will face a strong opposition from 24 year-old Weiwei Sun from China (PB 2:25:15 set at the Bejing Marathon in 2002 and more recently 2:26:32 in Xiamen in 2006); Kenyan Lela Jemutai Cheruiyot, who set her lifetime best in the 2008 Paris Marathon finishing third in 2:26:00 and who won the Venice Marathon in 2:27:02 in 2007; Ethiopian Eyerusalem Mutai Kuma who has already run a marathon in 2009 in Dubai clocking 2:26:51; and Russian Larisa Zousko (PB 2:26:26), second in two editions of the Maratona Città di Roma in 2007 and 2008.
Last year Russian Galina Bogomolova made the headlines at the Rome Marathon setting an amazing 2:22:53 course record, the Italian all-comers record and fifth in the 2008 world seasonal list.
Kirui the favourite in the men’s contest
The men’s race features 24 top runners with PBs under the 2:12 barrier. The favourite to win this year’s highly competitive race will be Kenyan Paul Kiprop Kirui, a former IAAF World Half Marathon champion in New Dehli in 2004. Kirui ran his Marathon career best of 2:06:44 over the super-fast course in Rotterdam in 2006. Kirui, winner at the Amsterdam Marathon in 2008 in 2:07:52, will square off against compatriots Hosea Rotich Kiprop, third in the 2008 Paris Marathon in 2:07:24, Philip Manyim Kipkurgat (PB 2:07:41 in Berlin in 2005) and Francis Kiprop (PB 2:08:30 in Seoul in 2008).
The most prominent non-Kenyan men in the field will be Jufar Robi Tariku from Ethiopia (PB 2:08:10 in Hamburg 2008) and Gang Han from China (PB 2:08:56 in Bejing in 2007). The best marathon countries are represented in the men’s field: Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, China and Russia.
The 2009 Maratona Città di Roma has a record jackpot amounting to 1 million euros as award for best times. Bonuses will be on offer for World, Italian, course and Italian all-comers records. The men’s and women’s winners will win a prize of US$ 18,000.
Rome boasts one of the most beautiful courses in the world. Athletes will start and finish in the worldwide famous Via dei Fori Imperiali near the Rome Coliseum after running in the heart of the Eternal City passing through the fascinating monuments and squares like Basilica di San Paolo, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna and Fontana di Trevi.
All runners who cross the finish-line in the Viale dei Fori Imperiali, will receive a medal carved by Master Alfiero Nena, the Chairman of the Italian Sculptors’Association. The medal portrays Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
