There’s no obvious favorite in either the men’s or women’s division of the 24th Los Angeles Marathon. And that’s a good thing. Sure, there are five men with lifetime bests under 2:10, but could a former track & field star ascend thepodium in victory in front of the Los Angeles Central Library on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25?
A candidate worth considering has to be Kenya’s Benjamin Limo, who enters the race with whatappears to be a modest marathon best of 2:12:45 from the 2008 Amsterdam Marathon. But he is aformer IAAF World Champion in the 5,000 meters from 2005 and has plenty of speed. Now 34, he’s moved onto the roads and according to manager Ricky Simms, “Ben is very serious about the marathon. As one of the top long-distance track runners, he is determined to run a world-class time on the roads. He was in good shape for Amsterdam last fall and was running well up to 20 miles but got bad blisters in the last few miles and jogged in.
“He would like to run well in L.A.”
He will get to test his fitness against 2007 Los Angeles Marathon champion and fellow Kenyans Fred Mogaka (2:12:03 best from 2006), Laban Kipkemboi (Kenya, 2:08:38 best from 2007), who finished second in 2006 and third in the 2005 Los Angeles Marathon and 2007 runner-up Moses Kororia. Two Ethiopians have the best recent marathon marks in the field in 24-year-old Tariku Jufar, who ran a quick 2:08:10 in Frankfurt in October, 2008 and Negari Terfa, who has already clocked 2:09:01 this season in the Xiamen Marathon in China on January 3.
The 26.2-mile race will be run on the fastest course in Los Angeles Marathon history, previously used in 2005 and 2006, where Kenya’s then-21-year-old Benson Cherono ran a race record 2:08:40 in 2006.
Among the women, the fastest time coming into the race belongs to 38-year-old Romanian Nuta Olaro who ran 2:24:33 in Chicago way back in 2004. But two Russians are on the rise and could challenge Lidiya Grigoryeva’s race record of 2:25:10, also from 2006: Lyubov Morgunova and Tatiana Petrova.
Morgunova, also 38, won the prestigious Rotterdam Marathon last year in her lifetime best of 2:25:12 and then followed up with a strong ninth-place finish in the 2008 New York City Marathon (2:30:38).
Petrova was the silver medalist in the 3000 m Steeplechase in the 2007 IAAF World Championships,then finished fourth in the Olympic Games steeplechase final in Beijing last year. Only 26, she has dabbled in the marathon since 2004 but slashed more than five minutes off her lifetime best with athird-place finish in the Dubai Marathon in January in 2:25:53. Is she ready to step up with anothermonster improvement in Los Angeles?
The 2009 Los Angeles Marathon offers a prize purse of $100,000 in cash, divided evenly between menand women with $20,000 for each winner, runner-up prize of $12,500 and additional prizes of $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 for places three through five. The winners will also receive a 2009 Honda AccordEX-L V6 sedan, which has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $28,705. However, the first person – man or woman – to cross the finish line will receive an additional $100,000 in the unique Los Angeles Marathon “Challenge.” Begun in 2004, the Challenge pits the men and women against each other by starting the women’s elite field several minutes ahead of the men; the first person to reach the finish line will win the Challenge purse. In addition, bonuses for achieving specific times are available from an additional $3,000 for a sub-2:12:00 (men) or sub-2:30:00 (women) performance up to $75,000 for a sub-2:07:30 race for the men orsub-2:20:00 for the women.
The Los Angeles Marathon XXIV elite fields as of May 13, which are subject to change:
1 Jufar, Tariku ETH
2 Kipkemboi, Laban KEN
4 Terfa, Negari ETH
5 Kosgei, Paul KEN
6 Kemboi, Peter KEN
7 Koskei, Julius KEN
8 El Boumlili, Khalid MAR
9 Tusse, Feyisa ETH
10 Wami, Mulugeta ETH
11 Limo, Benjamin KEN
12 Mogaka, Fred KEN
13 Kororia, Moses KEN
14 Korir, Wesley KEN
15 Colorado, Diego COL
16 Batres, Mark USA Rowland Heights, CA
17 Livingston, Brian USA Los Angeles, CA
18 Lemma, Fekadu ETH
19 Arusei, Issac KEN
20 Gutierrez, Jason COL
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