Posted: September 18, 2007

Athletics (RRW): Johnson, Olaru & Erkesso Lead Chicago Marathon Field

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Australian Benita Johnson hopes to rebound from a disappointing IAAF World Championships and record her first marathon victory at the 30th LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon slated for Sunday, Oct. 7. The flat, fast Chicago course was kind to her last year when she ran an Australian record of 2:22:36, establishing her in the top-class of women's marathoners. "Benita is relatively new to the marathon distance, but has quickly established a reputation for herself by tackling three of the top competitions in the world in Chicago, New York and London," said executive race director Carey Pinkowski through a media release. "Several women are going to challenge her, however, as we have four making their marathon debut and veterans like Nuta Olaru and Alevtina Ivanova with their eyes on the championship." While not naming defending champion Berhane Adere to the elite roster, Pinkowski said Romanian veteran Nuta Olaru (2:24:33 PB), Russian Alevtina Ivanova (2:27:48), Scotswoman Kathy Butler (2:28:29) and Englishwoman Liz Yelling (2:30:44) planned to compete. He also said that Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia, Kate O'Neill of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Adriana Pirtea of Romania and Jessica Ruthe of New Zealand would make their marathon debuts at Chicago. "This race is impossible to call as everything becomes a factor," Pinkowski added. "It all depends on how things develop on race day." Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest