Agency Reports
8 June 2000 – New York - Catherine Ndereba became the first Kenyan woman to win the Boston Marathon when she accomplished that feat less than two months ago.
Now she turns her attention to the New York MiniMarathon Saturday at Central Park, a race in which Tegla Loroupe, also of Kenya, is the defender and seeking her fifth title.
Ndereba finished a disappointing ninth last year in the 10-kilometre race in 32 minutes, 39 seconds, far behind Loroupe's 31:48.
"I'll be ready this time,'' said Ndereba, runner-up in the New York City Marathon in 1999. "Last year I twisted my left ankle jogging in Central Park during a warmup a few days before the race.
"I really didn't take it as being serious, so I went ahead and ran. By the fifth mile, I had serious pain, so I practically walked the rest of the way.''
Ndereba, whose personal best for the distance is 31:34, set in Japan earlier this year, has raced against Loroupe three times, winning only once.
"She's the one to beat again," said the 27-year old. "I really expect to beat my personal record by at least five seconds, maybe by as much as 10.
"I'm really glad the field is as tough as it is."
Two other top contenders for the number one spot include Ethiopians Derartu Tula and Fatuma Roba.
Tulu, the first Ethiopian woman to win an Olympic gold medal, hopes another successful Olympic campaign could provide a rallying point for a country embroiled in war.
As she prepared for Saturday's New York Mini Marathon, the 28-year-old athlete was reluctant to discuss the two-year-old intermittent border war between Ethiopia and its Horn of Africa neighbor Eritrea, which flared up again in May.
She said the conflict hadn't affected her family or training directly, but when pressed she said she believed an Ethiopian victory at the Sydney Games would inspire those of her compatriots caught up in the fighting.
"The people in my country are like (my) having brothers," said Tulu, the 10,000m champion at the 1992 Barcelona Games. "By winning at the Olympics it will be like a peaceful war, by having the country's flag raised."
Ethiopia's Fatuma Roba, the 1996 Olympic marathon gold medallist, refused to be drawn into any discussion of politics or war, saying only that she preferred to concentrate on her training as an athlete, regarding which the war "did not come into my mind".
Tulu is making a comeback after taking two years off to have a baby, a girl, Tsion, now 22 months, and a knee injury.
In April she shaved four minutes off her marathon best to 2:26.09 when she finished sixth in London. Earlier this year she set the Ethiopian half marathon record by running second in Lisbon in 1:08:03.
In three weeks, Tulu plans to have her first run on a track in almost four years. Her performance will decide whether she will run in the marathon or the 10,000 metres in Sydney.
Roba, who won the 1996 Olympic marathon in 2:26.05 and followed up by winning the next three Boston marathons, said she would test her preparation for the Olympics on Saturday.
Roba has not yet seen the marathon course in Sydney, but she had been told by an Ethiopian athlete the route and weather conditions were similar to Ethiopia, where she will be doing most of her training.
