Posted: December 2, 2005

Athletics: Jennings To Make Marathon Debut At California International

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

The 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials 1500m champion, Gabe Jennings, will run the longest race of his career on Sunday when he makes his marathon debut at the California International Marathon. The 26 year-old Jennings may be facing a raft of Kenyans --or not.

"Not sure how many of these Kenyans will make it here due to Visa issues," said long time race director, John Mansoor in an e-mail message to RRW.

The 5-foot, 11-inch Jennings, who was living in Mendocino and framing houses earlier this year, did his training for this race in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. at 8000 ft. of altitude. He began his 2005 season on the track, dropping out of a 10,000m race before racing at 5000m, 1500m and even 800m (1:49.67). He turned to the roads in October, winning the Humboldt Redwoods Half-Marathon in 1:05:58, placing 15th at the U.S. 10-K road running championships in Mobile, Ala. in 30:11 in early November, and taking second at the Run to Feed the Hungry 10-K in Sacramento on Thanksgiving Day in 29:52.

Mansoor's elite athlete list includes a number of lesser-known Kenyans (Elly Kiptarbei Tarus, Cyrus Kipkemboi Metto, Jeckly Kipchoge Biwott, Stephen Kipchumba Ngisisrei, Noah Koech, Hillary Lelei, Silas Kisorio, and Ibrahim Limo), but but also 2003 Cal Int'l Marathon champion Michal Bartoszak of Poland (2:12:16 PB), 2000 Twin Cities Marathon champion Sergey Fedotov of Russia (2:11:16), and American Patrick Muturi (2:08:59).

Women from Eastern Europe dominate the women's field, led by Wioletta Kryza of Poland (whose last name rhymes with "pizza") with a personal best time of 2:31:54, Alena Vinitskaya of Belarus (2:32:17), Elena Orlova of Russia (2:34:16), Marina Bychova of Russia (2:42:40) and Rimma Dubovik of Ukraine (2:33:54 PB). The top U.S. entrant is Christine Lundy of nearby Sausalito with a 2:41:55 career best.

The course from Folsom Dam to downtown Sacramento drops 340 feet (about 104m) and the runners usually enjoy cool or cold weather (Sunday's forcast is for high temperaturs of only 57°F/14°C). The course records are 2:29:21 by Nicky Carroll of Australia in 1999 and 2:10:27 by American Jerry Lawson in 1993. The race winners will each receive $10,000 from a total prize purse of $50,000.