Previews30 Jul 2010


Macharia to defend against Tadese - Bogota Half Marathon Preview

FacebookTwitterEmail

All smiles - Zersenay Tadese smashing the World Record in the Half Marathon in Lisbon (© Marcelino Almeida)

Bogota, ColombiaIsaac Macharia, an economics graduate of Nairobi University, treats each Bogota International Half Marathon like a final exam. Macharia studies up at altitude back in Kenya - Bogota is at 2640 metres - and then he aces the exam with a late race surge at 14K over the only hill on the course, a bridge.

The strategy has worked to perfection because Macharia is a four-time champion with wins the past three years and also in 2004.

Yet this year Macharia will face his toughest challenge in Bogota, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday. None other than World record holder Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, who set the current mark this spring in Lisbon, will be in the field, and aiming for a victory. Tadese ran 58:23 to take 10 seconds off Sammy Wanjiru’s mark earlier this year and that standard is more than two minutes up on Macharia’s best of 1:00:48.  And Tadese is coming off a fine tune-up, a win at the Giro di Castelbuono in Italy last Monday (26).

Tadese is a specialist, a four-time winner of the IAAF World Road Running/Half Marathon Championships, and he has also fared well on the track, notching a bronze medal at the Olympic 10,000m in 2004 and a silver at the 2009 World Championships 10,000m.

It should be a great race between the two but they are not the only ones who have a chance at victory.  Deriba Merga, last year’s Boston Marathon champ, is giving Bogota a shot. Merga was fourth in the 2008 Olympic Games Marathon and has a 59:15 PB for the half. He will be joined in the pack by a trio of 61-minute half marathoners: Morocco’s Ahmed Bay, Eritrea’s Tadesse Abraham, who was fourth last year in Bogota, and South Africa’s Stephen Mokoka. Mexico’s Alejandro Suarez, with a 1:02:35 PB, should also hang around until late in the race. The USA’s Ian Burell, who trains at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, is making his debut at the distance.

Tune tops in Women's contest

In the women’s race Dire Tune of Ethiopia stands out. The 2008 Boston Marathon champion has a 1:07:18 Half Marathon PB, the best in the field. This year she has raced consistently, taking third in the El Zayed Half Marathon and fifth in the RAK Half Marathon. She was also third at the World’s Best 10K and won the Ottawa 10K.

Tune will be challenged by Morocco’s Asmae Leghzaoui, Russia’s Tatiana Aryasova and Mexico’s Dulce Maria Rodriguez. Leghzaoui has a Half Marathon PB of 1:08:34. This year she placed second in the Marrakesh and Goyang Half Marathons, and seventh in the Seoul International Marathon. Aryasova has a 1:10:20 PB. She is the 2008 City of Los Angeles Marathon champion and last year finished seventh in the Berlin Marathon. Rodriguez, who has a 1:10:30 career best, was runner-up at Bogota last year and third in 2006.

More than 44,000 runners are expected to participate on the combined Half Marathon and 10K event.

Dave Kuehls for the IAAF  
Pages related to this article
Disciplines
Loading...