Posted: April 6, 2005

Athletics: Elite Field To Take Run At Race Records In ING Ottawa Marathon

Organizers line up world-class marathoners for National Capital Race Weekend

Martin Cleary , The Ottawa Citizen

The fastest fields ever assembled for the National Capital Race Weekend's ING Ottawa Marathon next month could put the men's and women's race records in jeopardy.

Elly Rono of Kenya, the defending men's champion, won the 30th Ottawa marathon by posting the race's fastest-ever winning time of two hours 11 minutes 48 seconds on a new single-loop course.

When the starting pistol is fired for the May 29th men's race, Rono, Danny Kassap of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Joseph Mutiso Wambua of Kenya could go under 2:10 and challenge the Canadian open record.

"This is the strongest field we've had yet," said Manny Rodrigues, the race weekend's elite athlete co-ordinator. "There are still a few runners I'm negotiating with to make it even stronger."

If an international runner beats the Canadian open record of 2:09:55, held by 1976 Olympic marathon champion Waldemar Cierpinski of Germany, he'll earn $15,000 for the win, a minimum $10,000 as a time bonus and a Hyundai Tiburon sports car.

"It's very realistic there could be a record," Rodrigues said.

Rono has 16 marathon wins since 1998 and a personal best of 2:10:57 in 2002. Kassap ran three personal best times last year, including a 1:04:11 half marathon and a 2:14:47 marathon. He likes running on Canadian soil, last year winning the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and placing second in the Toronto International Marathon.

Wambua was second at a marathon in Spain in February in 2:14:50, and also was third in the Kenyan Armed Forces 30-kilometre race in 1:33:31.

The depth of the women's field could also erase the race record of of 2:30:37, which was set by Canadian runner Sylvia Ruegger in 1984.

Larissa Zouska of Russia has run the fastest time of the top women with a 2:28:05 in 2003. She also has impressive placings, fourth at the Paris Marathon and eighth in the New York City Marathon in 2004, and eighth at the 2003 London Marathon.

She'll be challenged by Toronto-based Lloudmila Kortchaguina of Russia, a two-time Ottawa marathon champion who ran a 2:32:13 recently in Las Vegas; Toronto runner Nicole Stevenson, Canada's top-ranked female marathoner in 2004 with a marathon best of 2:33:37 from last year; and Michelle Lee of Great Britain, whose best marathon is a 2:35:51, when she was 14th in the women's race at the 2004 London Marathon.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005 - Reprinted with Permission