Paula Radcliffe crosses the line in New York (© Getty Images)
Two icons of distance running head their respective fields for the 39th edition of what has itself become an icon, the ING New York City Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain, holder of the World record at 2:15:25 as well as the next two fastest ever run, heads a small but formidable women’s elite field. It also includes Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, the former World record holder at 2:18:47 and winner of the 2007 IAAF World Championships Marathon in Osaka and second in Beijing 2008; and Gete Wami of Ethiopia (2:21:34 PB), winner of the first $500,000 World Marathon Majors series. If these three are in any race, you can pretty much count on them being in at the finish.
Ndereba and Wami have an extra reason for running well – 500,000 reasons, in fact. They are in contention, along with Irina Mikitenko of Germany, for the World Marathon Majors winner-take-all 2007-2008 championship. Wami and Mikitenko each have 65 points amassed over the two-year period, while Ndereba has 41. If Wami finishes first or second here, she wins the $500,000; Ndereba wins if she finishes first and Wami finishes anywhere but second. But if neither scenario plays out – and remember, Radcliffe is in the race -- the 2007-2008 series will end up in a tie between Wami and Mikitenko, a tie which will be broken by a vote of the directors of the five World Marathon Majors races.
Obviously, breaking into the top three is likely to require heroic efforts by any of the other leading entrants. They’re all winners: Ethiopian Dire Tune, winner of this year’s Boston and Houston marathons, the latter with a PB 2:24:40; Kenyan Rita Jeptoo, the 2006 Boston winner, PB 2:23:38; Russia’s Lyubov Morgunova, winner at Rotterdam this year in 2:25:12; and Romanian Lidia Simon, eight years from her big win in Osaka in 2000, but her 2:22:54 PB still merits respect.
Two well-known women are making their Marathon debuts here on Sunday: American Kara Goucher, 30, profiled here earlier in the week, comes in with an IAAF World Championships bronze medal from the Osaka 10,000m and a 2007 half-marathon victory over Paula Radcliffe in 1:06:57; and New Zealander Kim Smith, 26, with a 10,000m PB of 30:35.54, who finished fourth, one place behind Goucher in the Osaka 10,000, and ninth, one place ahead of her in the Beijing 10,000.
Goumri, Tergat, and Ramaala head the men’s race
In the men’s race, you have to start with Paul Tergat of Kenya, whose 2:04:55 winning time in Berlin in 2003 stood as the World record for four years. Tergat, who won here in 2005, is coming back after two years away from competition. At 39, it is fair to ask if he can still run with the best; he provided a provisional “yes” on 28 September in Lisbon when he ran a 1:01:33 half marathon.
Two other previous New York winners are in the field: Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa (PB 2:06.55), who won in 2004 and came second to Tergat by 3/10 of a second in the 2005 race; and 2006 winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil.
The runner with the freshest really fast credentials (and perhaps the one to watch) is 32-year-old Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco. Second here and in London in 2007, he posted a new PB of 2:05:30 taking third in London this year.
Five young, relatively unknown Kenyans are entered, all with sub-2:08 PBs established in 2007 or 2008. Any one of them could win if he can duplicate his best performance over New York’s notoriously difficult course. I’ll list them in order of their best times:
- Abel Kirui, 26, with a 2:06:51 set in Berlin in 2007;
- Daniel Rono, 30, who ran 2:06:58 in Rotterdam 2008;
- Isaac Macharia, 27, second in Dubai 2008, in 2:07:16;
- Hosea Rotich, 29, third in Paris 2008 in 2:07:24, and
- Wilfred Kigen, 3-time winner in Frankfurt; set PB of 2:07:33 winning Hamburg in 2007.
The top American in the field is 31-year-old Abdi Abdirahman, profiled earlier this week, who comes into the race with a best of 2:08:56 but says he is in the best shape of his life.
James Dunaway for the IAAF
