Berlin Marathon elite field announced

overall the berlin womens field may be about as good as chicago'

chicago has shobokhuvova probably the best runner in either race.

irina mikitenko who just pulled out of sundays great north run, having not run in over a week look for a DNS or DNF from her

grigoryeva who is getting old pb of 2:25

davila, i think is good for 2:24-2:26

a japanese girl who has run 2:21 in 2003 and nothing near that in years.

collenen de reuck interesting because of her age

i see 2 maybe 3 women in chicago under 2:30

forgot lewy boulet is in chicago

berlin has 3 young ethiopians 2:23-2:25 who will probably go for a very fast time, a japanese girl who ran 2:24.55 this year, leah malot who i think will lower her pb by a lot.

chicago is just as fast a course as berlin, so look at the top 3-5 times after the race and see who has the better fields.

Just curious, Douglas, why you are giving names for pretty much everyone else but refer to the Japanese runners in both Chicago and Berlin as "a Japanese girl."

tomo morimoto is running berlin

naoko sakamoto is running chicago

[quote]douglas burke wrote:

tomo morimoto is running berlin

naoko sakamoto is running chicago[/quote

They are both WOMEN, not "girls." Both are on the Tenmaya team based in Okayama. Tenmaya runners tend to have GREAT 1st and 2nd marathons, then the coach tends to work them to death.

Naoko Sakamoto ran 2:21:47 in her first marathon (3rd at Osaka 2003), then 4th at the Paris world Championships, 1st at Osaka 2004 to make the Olympic Team, then 7th at Athens, then a long period of injuries. Finally she came back for 2:28 at Berlin 2007. She's one of my favorites...great positive attitude.

I am surprised that there are no half-way decent American runners running Berlin.

www.666energy.com wrote:

I am surprised that there are no half-way decent American runners running Berlin.

Next year, huh? ;)

cpr wrote:

www.666energy.com wrote:

I am surprised that there are no half-way decent American runners running Berlin.

Next year, huh? ;)

hahahahahahaha we'll see

Does anyone know where James Kwambai and Duncan Kibet are racing this fall?

Willy K wrote:

Does anyone know where James Kwambai and Duncan Kibet are racing this fall?

Yeah, I've been wondering that, too. Kibet ran a 1:00:21 half marathon in March Lisbon (where Tadese ran the WR). I think he had a DNF at London . Haven't heard anything of him lately.

James Kwambai, who crashed hard at Rotterdam in April, is scheduled to run the Portugal half marathon on September 26.

Newyork Marathon in Nov.I thinkthe race directors are reluctant to announce them because of the hither to unreliability of some atheletes in Rosa's stable.Lel will also be in Newyork if he recovers from illness and stays injury free.Kibet is fine and training well he is just finding it hard to get into races.

x545 wrote:

Newyork Marathon in Nov.I thinkthe race directors are reluctant to announce them because of the hither to unreliability of some atheletes in Rosa's stable.Lel will also be in Newyork if he recovers from illness and stays injury free.Kibet is fine and training well he is just finding it hard to get into races.

There's always Fukuoka. I'm sure they'd be happy to score a 2:04 guy.

Does Fukuoka pay?

labrat wrote:

Does Fukuoka pay?

Of course not. Haile Gebrselassie ran there in 2006 just out of the kindness of his heart. Same for Wanjiru in 2007. Their attitude is, "The Japanese are so polite...I'll run for free!"