Latvia's Jelena Prokopcuka wins the ING New York Marathon (© Getty Images)
The Gulf of Riga spa resort of Jurmula may not have figured highly on the world’s athletics map before this year’s New York Marathon, but as soon as Jelena Prokopcuka broke the tape in Central Park, it achieved new-found fame as the home of the latest women’s marathon star. Not since Janis Lusis won a full set of Olympic Javelin Throw medals over a generation ago has the limelight shone on the small Baltic country squeezed between its neighbours Estonia to the north and Lithuania.
Fame is “nice but tiring”
But even Prokopcuka must have found it all a bit overwhelming the day after her win to find herself alongside men’s winner Paul Tergat ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to start the day’s proceedings, followed by an appearance on the David Letterman show.
Prokopcuka had become famous for more than just winning the world’s biggest marathon. She had also won $35,000 more than the men’s winner by scooping $160,000 in prize and bonus money. The plan now is to build a house for herself and her husband, Alexandrs Prokopcuks, three kilometres from her apartment in Jurmala. They already have the land, but New York has ensured they will now have the house to go on it.
She also has the fame which she describes as “nice but tiring”. She returned home to a hero’s welcome, the high spot being an invite to the National Opera to celebrate Independence Day on November 18 with the president and prime minister of Latvia.
Now follows a return to the hard work that brought her that fame. After two weeks rest, Prokopcuka will winter in the Algarve where she will train as usual with her husband who is the national record holder for the marathon (2:15:56). “All my achievements in the marathon are thanks to my husband and coach,” (Leonid Strekolovskis), she says.
Middle distance roots
In a sense, Prokopcuka’s career has followed a trajectory similar to World record holder Paula Radcliffe. Entering athletics at the age of 11 as an 800/1500m runner, Prokopcuka, 29, has moved up the distances, accumulating 44 Latvian records along the way. A veteran of three Olympic Games where she contested the 5000m and 10,000m (7th in the Athens Games), the 29-year-old has moved up to the marathon to find fame and fortune. With seven marathons under her belt since her fifth place in Paris 2002, Prokopcuka hit the jackpot in Osaka earlier this year when she set a personal best of 2:22:56 to win.
It was following that race in January that she mentioned it was her goal to win New York. It turned out to be not just wishful thinking. But something in her performance that day in Japan prompted more than one observer to see a steely resolve that would bring further prizes. Amongst them was the incoming New York CEO, Mary Wittenberg: “On a tough, windy, cold day [Prokopcuka] ran very tough. To be honest, we knew she could win this race,” she told the American press after the Latvian’s victory.
“Running uphill is one of my strengths”
Surprisingly for someone from a flat country, (highest hill 312m) Prokopcuka revels on the hills, something that is a positive virtue in New York with its five bridges and undulating route. But Prokopcuka has shown in other races that it is no fluke, trouncing double Olympic gold Derartu Tulu in the Edinburgh Great Caledonian Run in May. Trailing the Ethiopian on the flatter part of the course she made her move on the hilly old part to leave Tulu trailing by 12 seconds: “For me running uphill is one of my strengths,” she said after that win. “When I broke away I was still running comfortably.”
New York told the same story: “There was a one-mile uphill section at around the 22nd Mile which I really liked. That’s when I caught up with the other leaders and Susan [Chepkemei]. But I don’t like running downhill, unlike most other athletes.”
So where does Prokopcuka go from here? She refuses to talk about the next Olympics until she sees what her form is like the year before. But she definitely has her eye on the cream of big city marathons: “My long time dream was to win the New York City Marathon and my dream has come true,” she said, before tentatively adding, “Maybe I want to win Boston, Chicago and London.” This is one wish the marathon world may have to take seriously.
Michael Butcher for the IAAF
