China's Xue Bai celebrates her IAAF World Championship win in the women's Marathon (© Getty Images)
Xiamen, ChinaReigning World champion Bai Xue of China and Ethiopian rising star Bazu Worku lead the fields for the eighth edition of the Xiamen International Marathon on Saturday (2).
The Xiamen International Marathon is the first IAAF Gold Label Road Race for 2010.
[NOTE: Updated 14:00 CET, 01-Jan.]
Bai Xue vs. Zhou Chunxiu? – women’s race
Just 20 at the time, Bai shocked the marathon world in August when she cruised to a solid victory at the World championships in August. The prodigy who ran her first marathon when she was only 14, produced a commanding run in Berlin in August to collect China’s first global title over the distance. Bai followed up with a victory at the Beijing International Marathon in October, and now 21, will contest her 13th marathon. Her PB of 2:23:27 was set in Xiamen in 2008.
Chinese women dominate the field and at least one other, Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Zhou Chunxiu, will be attracting at least as much attention as her much younger compatriot. Zhou is a three-time winner here (2003, 2004, 2005) and a former London Marathon champion. Most recently, Zhou finished fourth at both the World championships in August and at the Beijing International Marathon.
Including Bai and Zhou, the five fastest runners in the field all have personal bests better than the defending champion Chen Rong (2:29:52), who is not in the field this year.
Zhu Xiaolin (PB 2:23:57), who was fourth at the 2008 Olympics and 2007 World championships and fifth at this year’s World championships, will return to the course she has run at least three times. But she's not apparently running for the win."This year I’m just training but not giving my best because I had a competition recently."
2006 winner Sun Weiwei (PB 2:25:15) is also familiar with the course and returns for the fifth time. The top Chinese contingent is rounded out by Zhu Yingying with a PB of 2:28:47 from Beijing in 2007 who came in seventh in Xiamen in 2009.
Trying to break the Chinese juggernaut will be Ethiopian Atsede Bayisa, who took the Paris marathon title earlier this year with a 2:24:42 PB. The 22-year-old faltered at the World championships where she finished well back in 27th, but bounced back somewhat in late October in Frankfurt where she finished seventh in 2:32:05.
Muturi returns to defend, faces stiff challenge
While local eyes will be focused on the women’s contest, organisers have attracted a solid men’s field well capable of challenging Samuel Muturi Mugo’s 2:08:51 course record set last year. The Kenyan returns this year to defend his title, racing again just 10 weeks after improving his career best to 2:08:20 at the Beijing International Marathon.
“The group of this year looks so tough so there’s going to be a little more action” compared to last year, Muturi said. "I want to break the course record. If the weather is good, no problem breaking it."
Among his key challengers is Ethiopian phenom Bazu Worku, whose 2:06:15 performance in Paris in April is the fastest in the field. Worku was just 18 when he finished runner-up in the French capital, and only celebrated his 19th birthday in September.
[NOTE - Updated 14:00 CET 01-Jan: Worku has withdrawn from the race.]
Joining Worku is Kenyan David Kemboi Kiyeng who broke his PB in the same Paris marathon in April with 2:06:26.
"We'll try to assist each other to run a better race than last year," said Kemboi. "Weather does not matter. You run together to keep a pace.”
2009 was also good to Negari Getachew Terfa who came in second after Mugo in Xiamen last year also breaking his PB and dipping under the previous course record. The Ethiopian improved his PB a second time this year running 2:07:41 in Berlin in September.
Although his personal best was set in Hamburg in 2007 with 2:07:42, Kiprotich Kenei is familiar with the course, winning here in 2008.
Thirty-year-old Aleksey Sokolov of Russia, whose PB is 2:09:07 from Dublin in 2007, is also coming back to Xiamen.
Other returnees include the French Olympic marathoner Simon Munyutu, 32, whose 2:09:24 PB dates back to the 2008 Paris Marathon.
Several other top male athletes will compete in Xiamen for the first time. Besides Worku, four other Ethiopians are due to race: Alemyehu Shumye whose PB of 2:08:46 he set in Frankfurt in October and Berga Bekele with a 2:09:41 PB from Beijing in October. Abebe Ngewo (PB 2:09:52) broke his record in Vienna where, for the first time in history, the first four runners finished under 2:10:00.
“My target is to win,” Shumye said, adding that whether the pace is set at 2:06 or 2:11 he will sprint the final 100 metres to win.
Perhaps another of the most widely anticipated appearances is by the promising Feyisa Lilesa, another teenager who won the Dublin Marathon in October with 2:09:12 in his debut over the distance.
Others in the mix include Kenyans Jacob Kiplagat Yator (2:09:02, 2009) and Daniel Kiprugut who clocked 2:08:38 in the fast Paris contest this year. Iaroslav Musinschi of Moldova, who improved his PB to 2:10:15 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in October, is also expected. Another of Russia’s Beijing Olympics competitors, Oleg Kulkov, who clocked a PB of 2:10:13 in Zürich in April, will also come to Xiamen.
South African Moses Lepheana, the 2001 Deaf Olympics champion, is also in the field. The 36-year-old has a career best of 2:16:16 from the Port Elizabeth Marathon in 2006.
The winners will each receive USD 30,000 with a $15,000 bonus on offer for a new course record. There is a $1 million incentive for a World record in the men’s race.
About 50,000 runners, the most since the first edition, from 32 countries are participating in the 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, and marathon are expected to compete in the rainy conditions forecast for this Chinese coastal city of 2.3 million.
Cyrille Cartier for the IAAF
