Posted: May 30, 2005

Athletics: Record chase falls short

Martin Cleary , The Ottawa Citizen

Kenyan's marathon win fails to challenge standard

The big winner at the 31st Ottawa Marathon yesterday was someone who never slipped on running shoes, pinned a number to his singlet or took a single step on the scenic course.

Two-time Olympic champion Waldemar Cierpinski, a former East German athlete, got to keep his Canadian open men's marathon record a little longer, after a talented international field capable of going faster than two hours nine minutes 55 seconds fizzled and failed on the roadways of Ottawa and Gatineau.

Manny Rodrigues, the elite athletic co-ordinator for the National Capital Race Weekend, was convinced one of the runners would take advantage of four quality pacers, decent weather and enticing rewards to beat Cierpinski's time, the fastest on Canadian soil, from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

If an international runner eclipsed Cierpinski's record, he would have won $25,000 in prize money and time bonuses plus a new sports car. The rewards to a Canadian runner would have been $34,500 and the car.

However, the record seemed destined to stay in Cierpinski's possession right from the start. The depth of the men's marathon field took a big hit last week, when four of the six top Kenyan male marathon runners couldn't get visas to enter Canada.

Rodrigues also hired four quality runners to serve as pacers for the elite athletes, hoping to bring the leaders to the half in 1:04:30, but the pacers were too slow and, despite the urgings of Rodrigues from the pace vehicle, they only managed 1:06:50 for 21.1 kilometres.

Instead, the race for the record became a race for position, pride and prize money.

Kenya's David Cheruiyot made an explosive and decisive surge from the pack of six front-runners at the 35-kilometre mark to capture the men's marathon in 2:14:20.3, the fifth fastest winning time in the history of the men's marathon.

"It was very competitive. I wasn't sure I would win," said Cheruiyot, who collected $17,000 after adding the Ottawa Marathon title to a victory in a race at Houston earlier this year.

Cheruiyot added that it "wasn't realistic" to run the 42.195 kilometres in two hours 10 minutes yesterday. "There were some complaints (in the pack) that the pace was slow."

Countryman John Itati was second in 2:14:46.6, while Toronto's Danny Kassap, representing Congo, placed third in his third career marathon in 2:15:12.6.

Three-time champion Joseph Nderitu (2:16:21.0) of Hamilton was fourth, and defending champion Elly Rono (2:16:47.3) of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, took fifth. Rono ran a race-record 2:11:47 here last year.

"I think sometimes you have to be lucky to have all the things come together," Rono said about chasing Cierpinski's record. "You can't blame the rabbits. It just wasn't the year. Maybe next year."

Jim Finlayson of Coquitlam, B.C., earned his first Canadian marathon title by finishing seventh overall in a personal-best 2:18:20.7. It was bittersweet, though, as he missed the Athletics Canada "B" standard of 2:18 to qualify for the world athletics championships in August in Helsinki

Lidia Vasilevskaia of Russia was the top woman in 2:31:52.7, the second-best winning time for a female in the Ottawa race.

"It was great for me, wonderful," she said. "But my plan didn't work. I was trying to break my personal best (2:29:20)."

Russian-born Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Toronto, who became a Canadian citizen last Friday, missed her third Ottawa Marathon title when she placed second in 2:32:18.5.

Still, Kortchaguina also earned her first national women's marathon title, and she is a strong candidate for the world championship team based on her 2004 winning time of 2:30:52.

Toronto's Nicole Stevenson couldn't match Kortchaguina's surge at 26 kilometres and finished third in 2:38:49.6.

Michelle Schuler of Ottawa notched a surprise sixth-place finish with her time of 2:56:13.9.

The respective men's and women's marathon winners in the Canadian Forces running championships were Sylvain St-Gelais (2:47:56.0) and R.L. Richards (3:12:16.0). They represented Camp Borden.

Matt Sheffield of Portland, Ont., was the men's half-marathon winner in 1:10:46.1, while Sharlene Cobain of Toronto was the top female in 1:27:46.5. Andre O'Kenge of Nepean and Susan Durrell of Ottawa were the masters half-marathon winners in 1:14:35.5 and 1:28:00.9, respectively.

The in-line skate champions were Bret Whitman (1:13:16.3) of Pembroke Pines, Florida, and Helen Havam (1:19:48.1) of New York City, in the marathon; and Jade Pauley (42:59.4) of Kitchener and Keri Chard (46:25.6) of Cambridge in the half marathon.

Complete results: see the Citizen's special 18-page supplement, Section C

© The Ottawa Citizen, Reprinted With Permission.