Keflezighi, Khannouchi headline U.S. contingent; prize purse exceeds $90,000
FALMOUTH, Mass. - (July 31, 2008)- The 36th running of the CIGNA Falmouth Road Race is set for Sunday, August 10, with Americans Meb Keflezighi and Khalid Khannouchi highlighting a field of 10,000. With several international stars competing in the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, the spotlight at Falmouth will be on old favorites and a new cast of challengers.
The 2007 race champions - Micah Kogo and Catherine Ndereba - will not be running. Both are representing Kenya in Beijing; Kogo in the 10,000 meters and Ndereba in the marathon.
Nonetheless, a professional field will be at the starting line on Water Street in Woods Hole for the annual rite of summer on Cape Cod, a scenic seven mile race to the beach at Falmouth Heights.
Keflezighi, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., ran a strong race last year, shadowing Kogo for six-and-a-half miles before placing second. It was the best finish by an American in the men's race since Ed Eyestone was second in 1990.
A 1998 graduate of UCLA, Keflezighi moved with his family from Eritrea to San Diego as a young boy. The Team Running USA athlete won the silver medal for the United States in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the first American man to medal in the event since Frank Shorter took the silver in 1976.
Keflezighi, 33, the U.S. record holder for 10,000 meters at 27:13.98, has had a frustrating year. The 16-time national champion was a disappointed eighth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials last fall in New York City and came out of that race injured. He was slow to recover and struggled to a 13th place finish in the 10,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials this summer. His entry into Falmouth, where he ran so well last year, suggests that he is back in form; victory here would help take the sting out of missing the Beijing Olympics.
"I had a great time in Falmouth last summer. Everyone treated me so well and so I'm excited to come back," said Keflezighi, a two-time Olympian. "Things didn't work out the way I wanted as far as the Olympics, but I'm feeling good now and looking forward to racing."
The Moroccan-born Khannouchi won Falmouth in 1997 and '98. He became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and, along with Keflezighi, could become the first American since Mark Curp in 1988 to win the men's race. The U.S. record holder in the marathon at 2:05:38, Khannouchi just missed making the 2008 U.S. Olympic team when he finished fourth at the marathon trials.
If not Khannouchi or Keflezighi, another U.S. entrant looking to break through at Falmouth is Adam Goucher, a two-time national champion at 5000 meters. He was hoping to join his wife, Kara, who will run the 5000 and 10,000 meters in Beijing. But Adam did not make the team and now turns his attention to the roads of Falmouth. Goucher wants to follow in the footsteps of his coach, Alberto Salazar, who won twice and set two course records in the 1980s.
Nicholas Kamakya of Kenya is returning after finishing a solid fourth last year. Earlier this summer he was second at the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. Also entered is Luke Kipkosgei of Kenya. He was fifth at Falmouth in 2004 and ninth in '05. He was a close second in the recent Steamboat Classic 4 Mile in Peoria, Ill.
Two newcomers to Falmouth who could contend are Edward Muge of Kenya and Girma Tola of Ethiopia. Muge made his debut by winning his first road race last weekend at the Bix 7-miler in Davenport, Iowa. Tola, a 2000 Olympian at 10,000 meters, was third at the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, N.Y., and fifth last week at the New York City Half-Marathon.
Along with Keflezighi, Khannouchi and Goucher, other U.S. men to watch include James Carney, seventh overall last year and the second U.S. finisher. He was sixth at the U.S. Olympic Trials at 10,000 meters and 14th in the marathon trials; Ed Moran, fourth in the 10,000 meters trials; Meb's teammate Dan Browne, a 2004 Olympian who was sixth at marathon trials and 14th at the 10,000 and Peter Gilmore, second U.S. finisher at Falmouth in 2006.
The women's field features U.S. Olympians Kate O'Neill, Elva Dryer and Amy Rudolph, and two-time champion and four-time Olympian Colleen De Reuck.
O'Neill, who first ran Falmouth as a school girl from Milton, was a strong third last year. The Team Running USA athlete was second in 2004, the same year she represented the U.S. in the 10,000 meters at the Athens Olympics.
Dryer was on the 2000 and 2004 Olympic teams in the 5000 and 10,000 meters respectively. She was third at Falmouth in 2004 and eighth in 2006. She competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, but finished 15th in the 10,000.
Rudolph, a Providence College graduate, was a 5000m Olympian in 1996 and 2000. The former U.S. and NCAA champion in track and cross country was fifth at Falmouth in 2006.
De Reuck, 44, a Falmouth favorite, has won the Open division twice and finished second four times. The mother of two has also won the Falmouth masters division twice. De Reuck became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and has represented both her native South Africa and the U.S. in Olympic Games. Last week, she finished fifth in the Open division at the New York City Half-Marathon.
Two others who should be in the thick of things in the women's race are Kenyans Millicent Gathoni, who won this year's Green Bay Bellin 10K and the Bolder Boulder 10K, and Edith Masai, 41, a 2004 Olympian who won this year's Bix 7. Masai debuted on the roads at Bix and is one of the hottest runners in the U.S. She won the Kenyan 10,000 meter championship last month and is certainly not running like a 41-year-old.
The women's field also includes Olga Romanova of Russia, who was fourth at Falmouth in 2005. She had the 2003 race practically won until she collapsed 200 yards from the finish line. Angelina Mutuku of Kenya, seventh last year, is also back. She was fourth in the Boilermaker 15K this year. Melissa Cook of Denton, Texas, ninth in '07 and 10th at the U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000 meters, is also a contender.
In the senior races, 1984 Olympic gold medalist and six-time Falmouth winner Joan Benoit Samuelson will race in the 50-and-over division, which she won last year, while three-time champion and 1976 Olympian Bill Rodgers will run for the first time in the over-60 category.
The wheelchair division will feature two-time defending champion Patrick Doak of Concord, Mass., and four-time winner Tony Nogueira of Glen Ridge, N.J.
The professional field will be competing for prize money totaling $90,300, with $10,000 to the Open division winners and $5000 each to the top U.S. man and woman.
This will be CIGNA's third year as the race sponsor. The Philadelphia-based employee benefits company upgraded its commitment last year to become the title sponsor. Karen Rohan, president of CIGNA Group Insurance and CIGNA Specialty Products, will be running her 11th Falmouth.
"It's a wonderful event and we're proud to be part of it," said Rohan. "It's amazing what the race directors (Kathy and Rich Sherman and Lucia and John Carroll), and all the volunteers do to make it such a wonderful day for everyone."
For more race information, visit: .FalmouthRoadRace.com.
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.
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