Where Your Dreams Become Reality
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Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
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2006 LetsRun.com LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Preview Some of the world's best marathoners will be hitting the streets of Chicago on Sunday for the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. There is over $650,000 in guaranteed prize money for Chicago, but over $1 million could be given away on Sunday. In addition to the prize money there are huge time bonuses, and American only time bonuses (Americans running an Olympic "A" qualifier (sub 2:20 men, 2:39 women) get a very generous $2,500, the 25th American will also get $1000 in prize money). We preview the races below and give our predictions. Men first, then women, followed by prize purses and bonus structure. 2006 Men's Preview Heading the African contingent in Chicago is Mr. Consistent in Chicago, Daniel Njenga. The Japanese based Kenyan ran 2:06:16 for 2nd in 2002, 2:07:41 for 3rd in 2003, 2:07:44 for 2nd in 2004, and 2:07:14 for 3rd last year. The only thing he lacks in Chicago is the win. He does not have any recent races under his belt, but going off of past years performances it's safe to assume he's prepared. Robert Cheruiyot enters Chicago as the co-leader in the World Marathon Majors, after his second Boston Marathon victory (2:07:14 this past spring (he also won in 2003)). He ran 1:02:51 for a win in Portugal on September 24th (not as impressive as his 59:35 half in Lisbon this past spring) but he won the September race by over a minute. We predicted him to win Boston, but think he perhaps is best suited for a marathon that is not pancake flat and fast like Chicago. 4 runners receiving a lot of attention are the Kimbia runners (Charles Kibiwott, Thomas Kiplitan, Benjamin Maiyo, and John Yuda) whose Chicago preparations have been chronicled on ChasingKimbia.com. Although its hard to tell the form of the Kimbia guys because they have done little racing this fall, Ben Maiyo, has to be the one with the highest hopes in Chicago. This past April, Maiyo surged to an early lead in the Boston Marathon on a suicidal pace and still held on to finish 2nd in 2:08:21. Last fall he ran a 2:07:09 pr for 2nd in Chicago, so he has shown he can run fast in Chicago. The question is can he win? In 3 major marathons, LA, Boston and Chicago, Maiyo has finished 2nd. Charles Kibiwott is a Kimbia runner on the upswing. Kibiwott did not start running until he was 24 years old. Now 32, he has shown great improvement since joining the Kimbia group in the summer of 2005 after being in the Fila Discovery Program. In his 2 marathons since joining Kimbia, he has lowered his 2:10 pr to 2:08:36 (fall 2005 in Frankfurt) and then to 2:06:52 this spring in Rotterdam. Definitely the type of improvement you want to see. Thomas Kiplitan is a Kimbia newcomer to the marathon with a 2:10:05 debut this spring in Rotterdam. Perhaps it is too early in Kiplitain's marathon career to expect great things but he was successful on the roads before moving up to the marathon and has run 8:12 for the steeple. John Yuda is the slowest of the Kimbia runners in the marathon (2:10:13), but has great credentials in the half marathon (sub 1:00:30 in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and twice the bronze medallist at the World Half Marathon Champs). In the marathon, Yuda has been a big disappointment. He finished 2:10:13 in his debut in London in 2004 and it has been downhill since. 2:18 in New York that year, a DNF in Seoul the next year, and a DNF in Boston this spring (editor's note: although Boston does not have official pacemakers Matt Tayor of ChasingKimbia says Yuda was pacemaking in Chicago this year). He has had some injuries the last few years, but clearly has the talent (Tanzanian records at 5k (13:03) and 10k (27:07)) to make a breakthrough. Another non Kimbia runner to watch is Jimmy Muindi, a true veteran of the marathon. He's run 30+ marathons since 1994 and has made his name at the Honolulu marathon (5 victories). Muindi is consistent (5 straight top 5 finishes in marathons), has shown he can run well in Chicago (5th in 2003, 4th in 2004), and can run fast (2:07:50 in Rotterdam), but winning a race like Chicago will require a performance at an even higher level. Robert Cheboror, one of Dr. Rosa's athletes, has shown the ability to finish well in a marathon "major" (2nd at Boston in 2004) and to also run fast, 2:06:23 in Amsterdam in 2004. This year he ran 2:07:37 to finish 2nd in Hamburg in the spring. He ran a mediocre 47:47 (not much faster than the pace he'll need to run in Chicago) for 9th at the Dam tot Damloop in Amsterdam a month ago, so his form may not be there this year. The only African runner who doesn't speak Swahili (all the runners above are from Kenya except Yuda who is from Tanzania and Swahili is the official language there) expected to be a factor is Dejene Berhanu of Ethiopia. Berhanu has excellent credentials at shorter distances as he was 5th in the Olympics at 5k, 8th at the World Champs last year at 5k, and has run 59:37 for the half marathon. Berhanu appears to be rounding into form. He ran a very subpar 1:05:36 at the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon on Labor Day, but then improved greatly by running reasonably well for him at the Great North Run (1:01:22, 3 seconds ahead of Dathan Ritzenhein) 3 weeks ago (he ran 59:36 in 2004 on the same course). And while speed is not the problem for Berhanu, marathon experience is. This is third marathon (2:11:48 in his debut in Fukuoka, 2:08:46 in Rotterdam for 4th this fall) and he'll likely need the same rate of improvement if he wants to win on the streets of Chicago. The hopes of the Americans rest on the shoulders of Abdi Abdirahman. Abdi has not received a lot of fanfare in 2005, but arguably has had the best year of all the American distance runners at 10k and above. He became the #3 American ever at 10k with a 27:22.81 in Hengelo in May. The only blip on his season was dropping out of the nationals at 10k with a leg injury, but then he ran 13:18 for 5k in July and followed that up with a 1:01:07 at the Philly Distance Classic, just coming up short of Mark Curp's 21 year old American record. Clearly he is fit. The question is how does his speed and fitness carry over into the marathon? As Khalid Khannouchi has shown the past few years, 10k running and marathon running are two completely different animals (Khannouchi ran 23:57 for 8k on April 2nd of this year and 2:07:04 for the marathon 3 weeks later). Abdi made his marathon debut in 2004 with little long distance preparation under his belt. His lack of preparation showed as he shuffled home at a crawl finishing in 2:17:09. Last year at NY, he held tough and finished a very respectable 5th in 2:11:24. Making the jump to 1st at Chicago in a field with a slew of 2:07 guys is a level Abdi has not yet shown himself to be at. American Brian Sell of the Brooks Team Hanson's program is also in the field. Sell has been slowly building himself into a world class marathoner with steady improvement and extremely hard work. In 2005 his breakthrough was a 9th place run in the World Championships marathon and he followed that up with a 2:10:55 pr in Boston this past spring. He is realistic about his chances in Chicago and has said his goal is a sub 2:10. The problem with running 2:09 pace in Chicago is unless there is a second group of rabbits, Sell will be running all alone virtually the entire race. David Morris, has the fastest time (2:09:32 in 1999) by an American born runner in the marathon (on a non-aided course) and Sell could challenge that on Sunday. Ed Torres, a Chicago native is making his marathon debut, but running a 2:10 seems to be unlikely and he has indicated he is shooting for a 2:12. Predictions: Marathons are always hard to predict and this year's Chicago Marathon seems wide open. We think Ben Maiyo has great credentials and is ready to break through to the top. Women's Preview Tomescu-Dita came within feet of beating Deena Kastor in last year's Chicago Marathon and comes into Chicago in fine form again. Last year she won the World Half Marathon Champs right before Chicago and this year she ran a 63:23 pr for 20k to finish 2nd at the World Road Running Champs. Tomescu-Dita clearly likes the Chicago course as she finished 2nd last year and won it in 2004. Ludmila Petrova of Russia has the fastest pr in the field, 2:21:29 (1 second faster than Tomescu-Dita's pr), set this past April in London. Clearly at the age of 38 she is not slowing down. Petrova was the NY Marathon champ way back in 2000. Can she put together two great marathons in the same year? In the past few years, her performances have slightly dropped off in the fall. A younger Russian on the upswing is Galina Bogomolova. Bogomolova ran a 10 minute pr to run 2:21:58 for 5th in the deepest women's marathon ever this past April at London (5 women broke 2:22). Bogomolova has great track speed as she ran 30:35 this past August at the European champs. A women with even better track credentials than Bogomolova is Berhane Adere of Ethiopia. Adere once held the world indoor records for 3k (8:29.15) and 5k (14:39.29) and was world champ for 10k in 2003 (30:04). (Surprisingly, she was left off the Ethiopian Olympic team for lack of form in 2004) In 2006, she made her debut in the marathon at London in a very impressive 2:21:52. If she improves in the marathon her second time out she will be nearly impossible to beat. On October 1st, she won the Bupa Great North Run in 70:03. To win in Chicago, she'll need to run about that fast for twice the distance. Others to watch include, Lidia Simon who was once one of the top 2 or 3 women's marathoners in the world. Simon got bronze at the World Champs in 1999, an Olympic silver medal in 2000, and topped it off by being World Champ in 2001. Pretty impressive. However, her best days appear to be behind her at the young marathon age of 33. 2004 World Cross Country Champ Benita Johnson is in the field as well. Johnson however does not appear to be going for the win, but rather top 3 and Lisa Ondieki's 2:23:51 Australian Record. American 2 Time Olympian Elva Dryer is in the field making her marathon debut. 4 time Olympian and 2004 US Olympic Trials Champ Colleen De Reuck is still going strong and will be hoping to beat her own American Master's record in the marathon set last year (2:28:40). De Reuck was the Berlin Marathon champ way back in 1996. Predictions: Berhane Adere ran very well in her marathon debut as a novice. We expect her too improve.
The American Development Bonus Prize Purse The American Development Bonus offers an $80,000 prize purse, eligible to U.S. citizens** in The 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Split among the first twenty-five (25) U.S. male citizen finishers; first twenty-five (25) U.S. female citizen finishers; each will receive bonuses after results have been confirmed. The American Development Bonus Prize Purse
The American Development Bonuses are based on gun/clock time finish. Time Bonuses: In addition to the $80,000 prize purse, The American Development Bonus offers an additional bonus for U.S. citizens** that finish The 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in under the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying time.
*The Time Bonuses are based on gun/clock time finish and not cumulative. Editor's Note: In 1983 at Boston 83 male runners, most American broke 2:20. We're not sure if the unprecedented American support at Chicago this year stops with the 25th American, but that type of effort would put a nice dent in the LaSalle Bank checkbook.
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