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Kenyan Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, this year's Boston Marathon champion, and Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania, the runner-up last year, top the field's for Sunday's 31st LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, the fourth stop on the five-race World Marathon Majors circuit.
With defending champion Felix Limo sidelined with injury, the role of favorite in the men's race falls on Cheruiyot, the 28-year-old who improved his personal best to 2:07:14 at Boston last April, a course record. He's expected to face a stiff challenge from compatriot Benjamin Maiyo who was second in Boston, clocking 2:08:21. Maiyo was second in Chicago last year, running a personal best 2:07:09. Another Kenyan, Daniel Njenga, is extremely familiar with the fast Chicago course, with a pair of second place and third place finishes in his four appearances in the windy city.
Kipkoech Cheruiyot warmed up for Chicago with a win at the Meia-Maratona de Portugal half-marathon in Lisbon last month.
Tomescu-Dita, who nearly caught a rapidly fading Deena Kastor in last year's race, returns to Chicago on the heels of her runner-up performance at the IAAF World Road Running Championships where she clocked 1:03:23 over the 20 kilometer distance, dipping under the previous world record and finishing just two seconds behind winner Lornah Kiplagat.
Including Tomescu-Dita (2:21:30), four other women in the field have run under 2:22:00: Russian Ludmila Petrova (2:21:29), Berhane Adere of Ethiopia (2:21:52) and another Russian, Galina Bogomolova (2:21:58). In her most recent outing, Adere, who lowered the Ethiopian marathon record in London last spring, won the Great North Half Marathon in Newcastle, England on October 1 in 1:10:03, 14 seconds ahead of Australian Benita Johnson. Johnson, the 2004 long course winner at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, will be on the Chicago start line as well, contesting her third marathon. Her personal best of 2:26:32 was set at the Flora London Marathon in 2005.
The flat course in Chicago has become synonymous with fast performances. On the men's side, Chicago has witnessed 10 sub 2:07 performances, and 27 under 2:08. 2:11:14, a performance good enough to win many international marathons, is the 100th fastest performance achieved in Chicago. Women have run under 2:22:00 on nine occasions, with three sub 2:20 performances, and 19 under 2:26:00. To make the top-100 cut this year, woman will have to run at 2:32:45 or faster.
The World Marathon Majors, a collaboration between five of the world’s leading marathons, offers a series-capping $1 million prize purse, with $500,000 going to the men's and women's overall winner. Runners collect points based on their finish over the two-year race cycle, with the top-five finishers scoring. After the first three races -- April's Boston and London races and last month's real,-Berlin Marathon-- Cheruiyot, Limo and Haile Gebrselassie lead the men's leader board with 25 points apiece, while Kenyan Rita Jeptoo, American Deena Kastor and Gete Wami of Ethiopia top the women's standings, also with 25 points.
Chicago, and next month's ING New York City Marathon, will mark the first time in the circuit's cycle that some runners will be competing for points for the second time. The inaugural series will conclude with the 2007 edition of the New York race, and with the cycles overlapping, series winners will be crowned annually thereafter.
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