Paula Radcliffe wins Nike 10km (© GettyImages)
Chicago, USAIn terms of a gathering of pure, refined distance running talent, Sunday's 25th anniversary running of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon is seemingly unprecedented.
Backed by a reported $1.75 million appearance budget and a field boasting the two fastest men and women to ever run the 26.2 mile distance, organizers have pieced together races that can even out do April's stunning Flora London Marathon.
Perhaps most anticipated is the women's match-up, pitting Kenya's Catherine Ndereba, the two-time defending champion and holder of the world’s best time, against Paula Radcliffe, the Briton who many claim to be the finest distance runner ever.
Last year, the 30-year-old Kenyan took advantage of Chicago's fast course to became the first woman to run under 2 hours 19 minutes en route to her second consecutive "Windy City" title, while Radcliffe stunned the running world in April with her debut 2:18:56, a solo effort that crushed the London field by nearly four minutes.
Since her staggering marathon debut, the 28-year-old Radcliffe has taken the Commonwealth Games 5000m title in 14:31.42, broken the European 10,000m record (30:01.09) while winning the continental title, and most recently, with her 30:38 win at the Run London race on September 22, set a European best for the 10K on the roads. All her performances sit at the top of the 2002 world lists. The only ‘blemish’ on her season came in Monte Carlo in July, where she finished second behind Gabriela Szabo's European record run (8:21.42) in the 3000m. Hardly a disastrous performance, as Radcliffe finished on the heels of the Romanian in a new British record of 8:22.20!
While Ndereba has raced more frequently, she has won nearly as often. She tuned up for Chicago with her fifth Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon victory in 1:09:20 on September 15, three weeks after her fifth straight win at the Crim 10-Miler (52:09) in Flint, Michigan. In between, she turned in an easy win in Atlanta's U.S. 10K Classic on September 2, and finished second behind Lornah Kiplagat at the seven mile Falmouth Road Race in August. She was upset by Margaret Okayo at the Boston Marathon in April (2:21:12), but bounced back with a win at the Sapporo Half-Marathon in July (1:08:57).
The other marathon head-to-head battle in Chicago will be between the holder of the men’s World best, USA’s Khalid Khannouchi, and five-time World Cross Country champion Paul Tergat of Kenya.
Khannouchi is aiming for his fourth Chicago crown, while Tergat who has finished runner-up in each of his three marathons, is simply seeking a win in the only event he has yet to conquer.
Since setting his first world best in Chicago in 1999, the 31-year-old Khannouchi has struggled at times with injury, leading many to believe that the world had seen the best of the Moroccan-born American. However, by lowering the world standard to 2:05:38 in London, he keenly proved his detractors wrong.
Yet, unlike his pre-London warm-up, when he won Half Marathons in Kyoto, Japan and Puerto Rico, Khannouchi hasn't won a race since his London triumph. He finished fourth in the La Corsa Piu' Antica race in Castelbueno, Italy, third in August's seven mile Falmouth Road Race, and fourth in the Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon on September 15 in 1:03:18. Perhaps most ominous is the Philadelphia result, a race he won prior to each of his three Chicago wins. In early July, he was a distant 60th in the Sapporo Half Marathon, running 1:04.35.
Tergat, the two-time Olympic silver medallist, finished second to Khannouchi in London in 2:05:48 to become the second fastest marathoner ever. In their only meeting since, Tergat beat the American in the 11km Castelbueno race where he finished second, and tuned-up for Chicago with a 28:14 win in the Mattoni Grand Prix 10K in Prague on September 22.
The best of the rest - the other challengers for the men’s and women’s titles
Men:
Marathons are anything but predictable. Witness Ben Kimondui, the 24-year-old Kenyan who last year wore a pacer's bib en route to a surprise win in Chicago, out-kicking Tergat to victory in 2:08:52. While he finished a disappointing 20th in April's Boston Marathon, the young Kenyan has notched two Half Marathon victories in the past nine weeks, showing he is ready for a successful title defence.
Somewhat lost in the after-shock of April's London Marathon was South African Ian Syster, who finished fifth in 2:07:06. Incredibly, the 26-year-old from Cape Town, who won his debut marathon in March 2001 in borrowed shoes, has been running for less than three years. Since his London surprise, Syster finished second in Atlanta's U.S. 10-K Classic in 29:42 on September 2, fourth in South Africa's Vodacom Phosphate Half Marathon in 1:04:35 in July, and clocked a personal best 28:16 at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4. Most recently, he finished a disappointing 19th in Amsterdam's 10 mile Dam to Dam loop on September 22.
Moroccan Abdelkader El Mouaziz, known for his aggressive racing style, will aim to add Chicago to his impressive marathon resume, one that includes wins in New York (2000) and London (1999 and 2001). The two-time Olympian finished fourth in London earlier this year, with a personal best 2:06:52.
The 33-year-old, who was sixth in last year's World Championships, has raced sparingly since London --a low-key appearance at the Run London 10K on September 22 and a seventh place showing at the Castelbueno race behind Tergat and Khannouchi.
Last year, Driss El Himer won the Amsterdam Marathon in 2:07:02, the second fastest time of the year and the third fastest debut ever. The 28-year-old French marathon record holder spent most of 2002 competing on the track, lowering his personal best to 27:48:00 for 10,000 meters in June. He was seventh at the Dong-A Marathon (2:14:57) Seoul in March.
South African Gert Thys, the fifth fastest marathoner ever, has been struggling with injury and inconsistency since his 2:06:33 performance in 1999. In March, he was fourth in the Dong-A Marathon in 2:12:46.
Women:
The biggest threat to the Ndereba-Radcliffe tussle in the women's race may come in the tiny frame of Yoko Shibui. The 23-year-old from Kuroiso, Japan, debuted with a victory at the Osaka Ladies International Marathon in 2:23:11 in January of last year, at the time the fastest performance ever by a debutante. In May, Shibui lowered the Japanese record in the 10,000m to 30:48.89. In her only road race this year, she was fifth at the Miyazaki Half Marathon in 1:10:09.
Russian Svetlana Zakharova whose marathon record the past two seasons has been very similar to that of Tergat, cannot be overlooked. For the second consecutive year, the 32-year-old was runner-up in London this year, where she lowered the Russian marathon record to 2:22.31, and in 2001, she finished second in New York and Honolulu, and won bronze at the World Championships.
American Deena Drossin, who has virtually single-handedly lifted the spirits of US distance running during the past year, will be making her second marathon appearance. Last November, the 29-year-old from Mammoth Lakes, California, finished seventh in the New York Marathon in 2:26:58, the fastest ever debut by an American. Since then, Drossin has set a World best in the 5K (14:54), and national records in the 15K (48:12) and 10,000m (30:50.32), and won silver at the World Cross Country Championships in March.
After a summer-long break in competition, Drossin resumed racing on September 1, finishing fifth at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in 1:12.32. Her coach, Joe Vigil, recently said that Drossin is capable of breaking Joan Benoit-Samuelson's American record of 2:21:21, set on the Chicago course 17 years ago. By coincidence, Benoit-Samuelson will be competing in the masters division this weekend.
Prize money -
More than $500,000 will be awarded to the top finishers, with $100,000, the largest ever payout for a marathon win, going to the men's and women's victors. Time bonuses, ranging from $150,000 for a new world best to $1,000 for sub 2:14 (men) and sub-2:33 (women) are on offer as well.
37,500 runners, the race's limit, will line up in Grant Park. The race will be televised live by TV Tokyo in Japan and by the BBC in Great Britain, with a local broadcast as well.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF.
