The Start of the 30th Chicago Marathon. © www.photorun.net
The Chicago Marathon this Sunday boasts one the deepest elite fields in the world. It’s a huge marathon and a popular one as well. By April 23, all 45,000 entries were purchased—the fastest the marathon has ever sold out in its 31-year history. On Sunday, there are likely to be around 35,000 finishers.
It’s a fast one too; world records have been set on it on four occasions—most recently in 2002 when British runner Paula Radcliffe ran 2:17:18.
In last year’s event (its 30th anniversary), unseasonably warm weather (88-degree temperatures) affected the race. Wisely putting safety first, officials were forced to stop the race four hours into it. Despite these setbacks, nearly 26,000 runners finished. Last year’s temperatures also affected the winning times. The Kenyan, Patrick Ivuti, won in 2:11:11—an elite finishing time that would have been considered pedestrian in normal conditions in Chicago. Despite the weather, the race was an exciting one—ending in a five-hundredths-of-a-second photo finish between Ivuti and the Moroccan, Jaouad Gharib.
The women’s race last year was equally exciting. Berhane Adere of Ethiopia won 2:33:49, three seconds ahead of the Romanian Adriana Pirtea. Pirtea had started celebrating shortly before the finish, allowing Adere to catch her. Although Ivuti and Gharib will not be taking part in Sunday’s race for the $125,000 men’s purse, Adere and Pirtea will renew their rivalry in the women’s race.
Regarding the outcome of the 2007-2008 World Marathon Majors Series, Chicago should not play a major role. The women’s winner will not be decided until the ING New York Marathon on November 2. And in the men’s category, the Kenyan Martin Lel is looking increasingly like the winner. Only his compatriot Robert Cheruiyot, who won the first series in 2006-2007, has a chance to surpass Lel in points, but he’ll need a victory to do that. Cheruiyot has run Chicago in the past two years and won in 2006, but this year he’s not even on the start list.
The men’s champion on Sunday should nonetheless come from Kenya. Chicago will have four runners with personal bests under 2:07 on the start line—all from Kenya. The fastest is William Kipsang, who won the Rotterdam Marathon in 2:05:49 in April. Emmanuel Mutai (2:06:15), Richard Limo (2:06:45) and Moses Arusei (2:06:50) are the other three.
At center stage in the women’s race alongside Adere and Pirtea, is the Olympic champion: Constantina Tomescu-Dita (Romania). Tomescu-Dita is poised for another fast marathon only eight weeks after the greatest triumph of her career. She’s run well in Chicago in the past—having won in 2004 and placed second in both 2003 and 2005. Tomescu-Dita also ran her personal best of 2:21:30 there three years ago.
Adere, the defending champion will be seeking her third win in a row. She’s already run four marathons within a year: Dubai, London, and Beijing this year and Chicago last year.
Besides Adere, Pirtea and Tomescu-Dta, other top-seeded runners include the Ethiopian, Bezunesh Bekele (2:23:09), and the Russian pair of Lidiya Grigoryeva (2:25:10) and Alevtina Biktimirova (2:25:12).
