Mumbai, India – Three-time winner and course record-holder Mulu Seboka will attempt to regain the title at the 7th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday (17).The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
Seboka set the course record in 2008, clocking 2:30:04. Her Ethiopian compatriot Haile Kebebush, the defending champion, has also returned to defend, but the pair will face a strong international cast.
The winner of the Nairobi edition of the “Greatest Race on Earth” series, Irene Jerotich, along with runner-up Alice Nyerechi Chelagat led the challenge from Kenya. Jerotich clocked 2:28:57 in the altitude of the Kenyan capital last October, a career best. Chelagat has a personal best of 2:27:29 from her fifth place finish at Dubai in 2008. She was a bit slower than Jerotich at Nairobi, but given the marginally better conditions here, both could dip to better timings this time around.
Others in the field include Russia’s Natalya Volgina, the second place finisher at Paris three years ago with a career best 2:27:32, and last year’s Rome Marathon champion Firehiwot Dado Tufa of Ethiopia, who clocked 2:27:08 in the Italian capital. More recently, she was fourth in Frankfurt in October, clocking 2:29:20.
There are also some debutantes in the field, most notably Kenyan Rose Kosgei, the World junior 1500m silver medallist in 2000. Kosgei, now 28, set a career best of 1:09:03 over the half-marathon distance last year in Prague.
Tarus aiming to move up a notch
With defending champion Kenneth Mungara opted out due to injury, his Kenyan compatriot, the 2009 runner-up David Tarus of Kenya, is looking to move up a step this year. In his most recent marathon, Tarus ran 2:09:24 at Eindhoven in October 2009, finishing sixth.
However, Tarus have compatriots Daniel Kiprugut, Henry Cherono and Luka Chelimo to tackle on the Mumbai roads.
Kiprugut is the fastest man in the field after his 2:08:38 in the Paris Marathon last year. Cherono and Chelimo share the same personal best of 2:10:26.
But the men’s line-up has three east European runners who would like to give the Kenyans a run for their money. Russian national record holder Aleksey V. Sokolov (2:09:07), the victor in the 2007 Dublin Marathon, together with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kuzin (2:07:33) and Yuriy Hychun (2:10:59) pose a real threat to the Africans. Moldova’s Iaroslav Musinschi clocked a national record 2:10:15 with his close runner-up finish in October in the Ljubljana, Slovenia, Marathon
According to Elite Athlete coordinator Ian Ladbrooke, the men are aiming to crack the 2:10 barrier, while the women will be gunning for a winning time between 2:27 to 2:30.
Organisers have increased prize money this year by around 25 percent to USD 310,000, with the men’s and women’s winners each taking home $35,000.
This year’s race is significant as the course now proudly includes the newly-opened Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, a 5.6 km stretch over sea which bridges Worli and Bandra.
O’Brien carries the goodwill, Polyzou the flame from Marathon
Decathlete and triple World champion Dan O’Brien will be the brand ambassador for this year’s Mumbai Marathon. O’Brien , 43, who is now a popular television commentator, is eager to meet young sporting aspirants in the Indian city and to spread the word of goodwill and promote the sport to new horizons.
The Marathon this year added another feather to its cap as the prestigious flame from Marathon, Greece, arrived in the city. Maria Polyzou, the national women’s marathon record-holder of Greece, brought the lantern carryuing the flame along with officials from SEGAS, the Greek national governing body.
“It is a rare honour a city gets in its life time,” said Vivek Singh, Joint Managing Director of Procam International, the organisers of Mumbai Marathon.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
mzungo.org says: Best of luck mate!
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