Posted: May 26, 2005

Athletics: Strong men's field out to challenge marathon record

National Capital Race Weekend registration could top 25,000

Martin Cleary , The Ottawa Citizen

A troop of rabbits has been empowered to help one of the strongest men's fields ever assembled in the 31-year history of the Ottawa Marathon in an attempt to break the Canadian open record for the 42.195-kilometre race.

Former East German runner Waldemar Cierpinski set the standard at two hours nine minutes 55 seconds when he won the 1976 Olympic marathon in Montreal.

Manny Rodrigues, the National Capital Race Weekend's elite athlete co-ordinator, feels there are four Kenyans capable of running the fastest marathon on Canadian soil, and he has contracted four Kenyans to serve as rabbits or pacers.

"I think it's very realistic," he said yesterday. "If the weather co-operates, there's no reason why we can't see a 2:09."

The forecast for the 7 a.m. start of Sunday's marathon is cool and a chance of showers.

Count defending men's champion Elly Rono among the favourites after he set an Ottawa Marathon race record of 2:11:47.4 last year. But he'll be pushed by countrymen John Birgen and Mark Yatich, who have run under 2:09, and John Itati, a quality racer on the American circuit.

If an international runner wins the marathon and breaks the Canadian open record, he'll earn $25,000 and a new car.

Joseph Kamau, Julius Ondierre, Anthony Gitau and Michael Musili have been hired as pacers and plan to cover the first 21.1 kilometres in 1:04:30. Two rabbits will exit at 15 kilometres, while the other two will stop by 30 kilometres.

The top female runners are defending champion Lloudmila Kortchaguina of Toronto, Lidia Vasilevskaia and Natalia Volgina, both of Russia, and Nicole Stevenson of Toronto.

The marathon will serve as the national championships.

At today's scheduled press conference, race organizers are expected to outline route changes in the Rockcliffe Park area, making the course faster. They also will announce a new partnership with CBC to televise a highlights package June 4-5. CBC will provide a large TV screen at the finish line.

Race registration has reached a record 23,500.

© The Ottawa Citizen, Reprinted With Permission.