KIMbia's Ben Maiyo will be among the favorites on Sunday. © Victah Sailer
Sunday’s LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon has a high-class field for its 29th edition, including several strong KIMbia entries. Among the 40,000 participants will be four men whose personal bests are under 2:07 hours, and another three who have already run under 2:08. The women’s field is also excellent, with four entrants with sub-2:22 bests, and two more with sub-2:24 credentials.
Among the men, there is no clear favorite, following the withdrawal of last year’s winner, Felix Limo. The Kenyan, who also won the London Marathon earlier this year, is suffering from a back injury.
One man who has twice been second and fourth in the past four years but never won in Chicago is the Kenyan Daniel Njenga. He ran his fastest time of 2:06:16 hours four years ago in Chicago. Three other Kenyans with sub-2:07 bests will start on Sunday: Robert Cheboror (2:06:23), Wilson Onsare (2:06:47) and Charles Kibiwott (2:06:52). Kibiwott, a KIMbia star, ran his fastest time in Rotterdam in April, despite back problems towards the end of the marathon. He finished third. Two other Kenyans have good chances in the cool temperatures of Chicago on Sunday. Robert Cheruiyot has already won the Boston Marathon this year in 2:07:14. If he won again, he would go into the outright lead in the World Marathon Majors points table. Second in Boston and also in Chicago last year was Benjamin Maiyo, whose best time is 2:07:09. Maiyo and Kibiwott will be joined by their KIMbia teammates Thomas Kiplitan, John Yuda and Gilbert Koech.
The situation in the women’s entry is different, in that a Kenyan victory is more or less out of the question, because none of that country’s leading runners are on the start list. As with the men, the women’s champion of last year is missing: Deena Kastor (USA) will be on the start line in New York. However, another woman who won the race in 2004 and was runner-up last year, as she was in 2003, is among the leading favorites: Constantina Tomescu set a Romanian record of 2:21:30 when finishing behind Kastor in Chicago last year. The 36-year-old was only two seconds adrift of Lornah Kiplagat over 20K in the World Road Race Championships earlier this month. Also in strong form is Berhane Adere. The Ethiopian, who improved to 2:21:52 in London in April but lost the national record to Gete Wami’s winning time of 2:21:34 in Berlin, recently won the Great North Run, a half marathon, in 70:01. Prospects of victory, and prize money of 125,000 US dollars, are equally strong going into the race for the Russian Ludmila Petrova—the 38-year-old improved her best to 2:21:29 earlier this year—as well as Galina Bogomolova (2:21:58). And Benita Johnson of Australia (2:26:32) may well achieve a breakthrough in the marathon on the fast course in Chicago.
Top Americans
The best American hopes at Chicago rest with Brian Sell, who was fourth at Boston this year in 2:10:55, and Abdi Abdirahman, who has run 2:11:24 and was second at the Philadelphia Distance Classic Half Marathon in September with a time of 1:01:07.
Eduardo Torres, who starred locally at Wheeling High as well as the University of Colorado, will make his marathon debut. He was the top American finisher this year at the Falmouth Road Race in Massachusetts.
Khalis Khannouchi, a four-time winner at Chicago and the event-record holder, is not racing Chicago this year because of a minor foot injury. He ran at London in April, placing fourth.
On the women’s side, masters star Colleen De Reuck, 42, (2:26:35) will be joined by KIMbia’s Elva Dryer, 35, and Melissa White, 25, who will make their debuts.
