Posted: June 2, 2004

Athletics: Loaded Field Headed For Freihofer's Run For Women

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Saturday's Freihofer's Run for Women in Albany, N.Y., should be another barn-burner judging by the recent results of the top athletes entered. It's the 26th edition for the race, which also serves as the U.S. 5-K Championships, open and masters, for women.

Marla Runyan, who just lowered her 5000m personal best to 14:59.20 last Saturday in Waltham, Mass., will be going for her third consecutive victory. The 2000 Olympic finalist at 1500m crossed the line in 15:25 last year, just one second short of Lynn Jennings's 1995 course record*. The prior year, her first at the race, Runyan ran 15:27.

Runyan prevailed last year primarily off of endurance training, coming off of a high mileage base laid down prior to the Boston Marathon. This year, she has reduced her mileage to focus on speed and guard against overtraining.

"I have a tendancy to overtrain," she said after her 5000m race in Waltham last Saturday, noting that she's added some healthy weight to her five-foot, seven inch frame.

U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon champion, Colleen De Reuck, will be Runyan's chief rival (she finished second last year in 15:41) and is a shoo-in to win the U.S. masters title at the same time. She also has an excellent chance of smasing Ruth Wysocki's U.S. masters record of 16:06 set on the same course in 1997.

Sylvia Mosqueda, who skipped the race last year but finished third in 2002 in 15:58, is also expected to compete, along with Nicole Aish (15:40.01 last Saturday in Waltham), Cheri Kenah (returning from maternity leave and the 1999 Freihofer's champion), Elva Dryer (1997 Freihofer's champion), Amy Yoder Begley (15:35.95 PB last Saturday in Waltham), and Jenny Crain (16:15.37 last Saturday in Waltham).

Carmen Ayala Troncoso, 45; Joan Benoit Samuelson, 47; and Joan Nesbit Mabe, 42; Debbi Kilpatrick-Morris, 40 are amongst the top masters entrants.

The race winner will receive $10,000, and there are additional bonuses for a Deena Kastor's U.S. record (14:54) Jennings's course record.

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