|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Who are the top contenders?
Posted: Friday November 05, 1999 03:02 PM Join Sports Illustrated's Brian Cazeneuve and Rick Lipsey as they run the New York City Marathon. They'll file progress reports during Sunday's race and then check in from the finish line (we hope). Here's Cazeneuve's preview of the race. WomenThe leading women in this year's field may feel that life begins at 30. Germany's Katrin Dorre-Heinig and Italy's Franca Fiacconi, the only women to have run marathons in under 2:30 three times in two different years, are among the favorites in this year's race. Dorre-Heinig, 38, ran the fastest marathon of her career in April, winning the Hamburg Marathon in 2:24:35. She won an astounding 10 straight marathons from 1982 to 1986 but contemplated retirement after winning a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and giving birth to a daughter, Katrina, the next year. In her first marathon after the birth, the product of the regimented East German system competed in New York and said she felt overwhelmed. "The Wall was down and now we had to make our own choices," said Dorre-Heinig, who placed third in that 1990 race. "Each day I ate in a different restaurant, trained on a different road. It was too much. It was horrible. Now I am ready for New York." Defending champion Fiacconi needed three tries before winning here last year in 2:25:17, the second-fastest time ever recorded on this course. The 34-year-old converted miler is known for her quick recovery after races and has run marathons in consecutive months on five occasions. In May she won her ninth international marathon, blitzing the field in Prague by five minutes. Romania's Anuta Catuna, the sport's longest running palindrome, won the New York race in 1996, coming from more than a minute behind Kenya's Joyce Chepchumba in the closing miles to win. Catuna, 31, runs well on hilly courses. Catuna finished 10th in Boston (with a time of 2:33:49) last April. If she is within reach of the lead by the time the race enters the twisting undulations of Central Park at 23 miles, the former world silver medalist is a strong bet to win. Kenya's Catherine Ndereba has been a dominant road runner over the last few years. She was Runner's World's runner of the year in 1996 and 1998, basing herself in Philadelphia and cashing in on the U.S. road circuit. She sat out the '97 campaign to have a baby. In her debut marathon at Boston this spring she placed sixth. "The race was hard because usually the other runners look for me. I don't like looking for the other runners." The way to compensate for her lack of experience, Ndereba admits, is to try to push the pace as early as possible. Look for her to do that before the race hits the Queensborough Bridge at 16 miles. Mexico's Adriana Fernandez won't be able to sneak up on people as she did last year when she placed second to Fiacconi in New York. Her second-place time (2:24:06) in this year's London Marathon gives her the fastest time of any woman in the field. She carries a strong track background, having won gold medals at 10,000 meters in each of the last two Pan-Am Games. MenKenyan marathoners have been putting their best foot forward for several decades, but they have never swept the first three places in a major marathon run on U.S. roads, a goal that is within their reach on Sunday. Two-time defending race champion John Kagwe has added a word to his English vocabulary, and he has only the New York City Marathon to blame. "It is threepeat," the Kenyan says. "It gives you a kind of tension when you hear it, so I tell people I don't understand and forgive me my English." Kagwe had to stop twice to tie his shoes during last year's race, but still held off countryman Joseph Chebet for the second straight year. Chebet gained some revenge by winning the Boston Marathon in April, when Kagwe hobbled into fifth place with leg cramps. Kagwe remembered trying to talk the pain out of his legs. "Cramp is calling and I am not home," he recalled Thursday. "Please call back later when I am in sauna." Chebet, not nearly as gifted with gab, is trying to become the first man to win the Boston and New York marathons in the same year since Alberto Salazar's double in 1982. In six marathons, Chebet, 29, has finished no worse than second. Lacking the speed to overcome strong kickers, he needs a lead before the race enters the park at 23 miles. "I have to change my tactics," he says. "I cannot wait so long like last year." Kenyan Cosmas Ndeti won three straight Boston Marathons from 1993 to 1995 and even named his firstborn son Boston after his favorite international city. The Kamba tribesman boldly predicted many of his victories and even shadowboxed if properly enticed. Then he sustained a series of minor foot ailments that compounded themselves and sapped both his brashness and his desire to train hard. "I hear that marathon runners are finished once they are down," he says. "It is not true. New York is a good place to change what people think. I can do that." One thing he won't do: "Name my next son after New York." Moroccan Abdelkhader El Mouaziz, an established frontrunner, lost a £20,000 bonus when he slowed to wave to the crowd in the homestretch of the London Marathon he won in April. El Mouaziz finished two seconds off the course record 2:07:55. He won the Marrakech Marathon three times and took fourth in New York in 1997. With several Kenyans capable of varying the pace -- Philip Tarus, Simon Biwott or Elijah Lagat are all capable of playing either the role of pacesetter or surprise contender -- El Mouaziz will need to take the lead early if he wants a race to his liking (both fast and even). At 23, Zebedayo Bayo of Tanzania is the youngest of the field's serious challengers. He was within 100 meters of Kagwe and Chebet before fading in the final mile of last year's New York race. His countryman and mentor Juma Ikangaa still holds the course record of 2:08:01, set in 1989. Spaniard Martin Fiz, the 1995 world champion, is just three months removed from an eighth-place finish at the worlds in Seville, Spain. He is a good hill runner and will have a chance if the weather turns hot and steamy, conditions that have suited him throughout his career. With forecasts listing overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-50s, the 36-year-old Fiz is a longshot.
Brian Cazeneuve is a Sports Illustrated wruter-reporter.
| ||||||||||||||||||
