Gilbert Okari, Meb Keflezighi Racing at Bix This Weekend
By David Monti
(c) 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
July 26, 2006

The U.S. road running circuit continues in high gear with the 32nd annual Quad City Times Bix 7 in Davenport, Ia. on Saturday, and defending champions Gilbert Okari and Nuta Olaru headline the elite fields of 28 men and 19 women.

Okari has already won five top-class North American road races this year, including the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile and Crescent City Classic 10-K.  At the Bix last year (the race is named after legendary jazz trumpeter Bix Biederbecke) Okari defeated five-time champion John Korir by nearly half a minute.  Korir will also be back, with fellow Kenyans Evans Cheruiyot, William Chebon Chebor, Sammy Rongo, Charles Kiama, Julius Kibet and others.

Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi will be the top USA entrant.  Although he did not run the last two years, he won it in 2002 when it was a USA championship event, and finished third in 2003 behind Korir and Linus Maiyo.  Assistant race director Dan Breidinger has forged a close relationship with Keflezighi which began when the athlete chose to stay at Breidinger's house instead of at a hotel in 2002.

In winning last year, Olaru beat both Sally Barsosio and Catherine Ndereba by 31 seconds and 41 seconds, respectively.  Her greatest competitive threats will be two different Kenyan women this year, Susan Chepkemei and Jemima Jelegat.  The easy going Chepkemei has run very well this year, with a 68 minute half-marathon in Lisbon, good for second place, and a personal best 2:21:46 marathon in London, good for third place.  Most recently, she was fourth at the Peachtree Road Race 10-K and second at the Utica Boilermaker.  Jelegat is in her first full year road racing in the United States and she has been very tough, notching five victories and lowering her 10-K personal best to 31:15 at the Peachtree Road Race where she took second.

Two-time Olympian Marla Runyan will lead the USA charge at the event, making her first appearance at the Bix.  Best known for her accomplishments on the track (she finished 8th at the Sydney Olympics in the 1500m), Runyan is also an excellent road runner, despite being legally blind.  She won the Freihofer's Run for Women 5-K in Albany, N.Y., three consecutive times in 2002, 2003, 2004 when the race served as a USA championships race, and finished fourth in the 2002 ING New York City Marathon in her debut at the distance (2:27:10).  She only just began competing again earlier this year after she and husband and coach Matt Lonergan has their first child, Anna Lee Lonergan, in Sept., 2005.

The Bix winners will receive a 2006 automobile from Lujack’s Northpark Auto Plaza of Davenport (Lujack's represents 16 manufacturers), and cash awards will be presented to the rest of the top-10 from $4000 for second place down to $500 for fourth.

The complete elite fields are below:

MEN -
Gilbert Okari-Kenya
John Korir-Kenya
Meb Keflezighi-USA
Evans Cheruiyot-Kenya
William Chebon-Kenya
Samuel Rongo-Kenya
Lawrence Kiprotich-Kenya
John Kibowen-Kenya
Simon Arusei-Kenya
Ketema Nigusse-Ethiopia
Mohamed Fadil-Morocco
Mario Macias-Mexico
Clint Verran-USA
Karim El Mabchour-Morocco
Samuel Ndereba-Kenya
Charles Kiama-Kenya
Julius Kibet-Kenya
Ernest Meli Kimeli-Kenya
Worku Beyi-Ethiopia
Nephat Kinyanjui-Kenya
Edwardo Torres-USA
Jason Lehmkuhle-USA
Nicholas Murei-Kenya
Chris Lundstrom-USA
Abraham Kosgei-Kenya
Richard Kimeli-Kenya
Bryant England-USA
Bill Rodgers-USA

WOMEN -
Nuta Olaru-Romania
Susan Chepkemei-Kenya
Jemima Jelagat-Kenya
Masako Chiba-Japan
Kathy Butler-Great Britain
Luminita Talpos-Romania
Marla Runyan-USA
Natalia Belova-Russia
Lidia Simon-Romania
Zoila Gomez-USA
Emily Mortensen-USA
Stephanie Bylander-USA
Kisten Nicolini-USA
Mirriam Kaumba-Nambia
Nickole Johns-USA
Michelle Lilienthal-USA
Suzy Schumacher-USA
Winfridah Mochache Kebaso-Kenya
Joan Benoit Samuelson-USA