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|  ATF Newswire: The 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon By Larry Eder ATF Newswire: Volume 9, no. 48 October 22, 2006
As we were heading into the media center, runners and
their families were heading up to the finish line, clad in
sweats, plastic bags to break the wind and cold . . . The wind will hit the runners on their left shoulder through
seven miles and through twelve off their right shoulders. Yesterday, I listened a bit to Deiter Hogan, coach of Evans
Rutto and many of the Kenyan pacers and first time
marathoners. He discussed the course, and smart running. The two front pacers will try and get through halfway, then
the next pacers should get them through 25 or 30k. Miles one to six The men's first six miles of splits were 4:51 for one mile,
9:38 for two miles, 14:33 for three miles, 19:25 for four
miles, 29:02 for six miles, with 10k passed in 30:06. While we are hearing complaints about the wind, the pace
is quite fast on both men's and women's sides. Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania, who placed second
last year, told The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon folks that
she wanted to run a sub-2:20 and that she wanted a 1:09 for
the half-way. She hit the 5k in 16:04 with Berhane Adere of
Ethiopia in 16:10, Galina Bogomolova of Russia in 16:10.
Hiromi Ominami of Japan also in 16:10, and Benita
Johnson of Australia in 16:10, with Ludmila Petrova of
Russia also in 16:01---a sub-2:17 pace. And this is where Tomescu-Dita, who looks to be constantly
overstriding, takes off. She latches onto a group of Hanson's
Brooks Distance Project guys who are running 2:16 pace
and presses on! Tomescu-Dita hit two miles in 10:22, three
miles in 16:06, four miles in 20:41, five miles in 25:51 and
six miles in 31:07! Tomescu-Dita hits the 10k in 32:13, and
she is thirty seconds up on the rest of the women's field! Miles seven to the half American Brian Sell is running by himself, hitting ten miles
at 48:43-his goal is 2:09:30 pace---he is by himself. At the halfway point, Kipkosgei and Kiami take pack of 16
through in 1:03:13, a 2:06:24 race pace with Maiyo, Njenga,
Maiyo, and Abdirahman also in attendance. Abdirahman of
the U.S. told the press this week that he comes into each
race looking to win! Tomescu-Dita of Romania has started to really motor.
Seven miles in 36:16, eight miles in 41:29, nine miles in
46:35, ten miles in 51:45, eleven miles in 56:51 and twelve
miles in 1:02:10, and hitting the half was passed in 1:08:05!
She has been running with a pack of ten men, all cruising
along for a 2:16 pace, at about eleven miles (which she ran
in 5:04 pace) began to drop off the men's pack, ran a 5:16, a
5:26 mile. The winds are gusting, and it must be taking
something out of the athletes. Bogomolova, Adere, Johnson, Petrova, and Ominami were
two minutes back from Tomescu-Dita at the halfway point,
which they hit in 1:10:15. Miles 14 to 20 Abdirahman leads the pack at 18 miles in 1:27:32, a mile in
5:04. He is looking very relaxed. And he is making a move,
with about fifty meters quick lead. Very strong westerly winds
. . . Jimmy Muindi has taken the lead, Kipkosgei, the last
pacer, has dropped out. Muindi, Cheruiyot, then Abdirahman are in the top pack.
Abdirahman just took the lead at 19 miles in 1:32:58, a mile
in 4:52. Muindi has run 27:15 for 10k, 1:01:33 for half
marathon and a 2:07:50 at Rotterdam in April 2005! Five
men in the main pack---Robert Cheboror, Abdirahman is
being aggressive. The Tomescu-Dita watch Tomescu-Dita of Romania has slowed, and the pack of
Adere, Bogomolova, Carrillo and Johnson are now back one
minute, thirty eight seconds! Petrova has dropped off the
pack. Tomescu-Dita covered nineteen miles in 1:40:32 and
she is looking strong, on sub-2:18 pace still! She ran 5:26
for mile twenty, hit in 1:45:57. Twenty miles in 1:37:17, a 2:07:05 pace, with Muindi,
Njenga, Cheruiyot and Abdirahman all in the lead pack. Sell
has dropped from 2:09:20 pace at 10 miles to 2:09:36 pace
at fifteen miles to 2:10 pace at the 30 kilometer mark. Mile 21 to the finish Twenty two miles in 1:46:58, twenty-three miles in 1:51:54,
with Muindi, Njenga, Cheruiyot in a pack. Abdirahman is still
running well, but out of the top three. Tomescu-Dita has run 1:40:32 for nineteen miles, 1:45:59
for twenty miles, 1:51:37 for twenty-one miles. She is
slowing a bit, but she has caught the men's group trying to
break 2 hours, twenty as the U.S. Olympic Trials "A"
standard. Tomescu-Dita ran just a 5:47 mile, she is
slowing . . . can she hang on for sub 2:20? At 22 miles, Adere and Bogomolova are only forty seconds
back! Tomescu-Dita is now on a 2:19:44 pace, with a
Russian and an Ethiopian chasing. For the women in
places two and three, this is first time they could see
Tomescu-Dita, who seems to be in a terrible place, she
looks like she is starting to fall apart. At 23 miles the men are down to two. Muindi is starting to
drop off, as Cheruiyot is pushing with Njenga trying to get
some shelter from the winds. Njenga is my pick---he is
quite relaxed. The women's lead pack is down to nineteen seconds
behind Tomescu-Dita of Romania, and mile 22 hit in
1:57:22. At 25 miles it's 2:02:45 with Cheruiyot and Njenga together.
Tomescu-Dita of Romania hits the wall, and Adere and
Bogomolova rushed by Tomescu-Dita---and there's no
response from her. Remember Bogomolova has run 30:35
in the Europeans, so she has some speed. Adere looks a
bit more comfortable and Bogomolova is pushing the pace
very hard. Men have last 800 meters to go, Cheruiyot making the go,
one more corner to go, Njenga back in it, at 26 miles, as
they push up the hill. Cheruiyot pushing again and they just
passed 26 miles in 2:06:36. Njenga gave up with two
hundred to go! Robert K. Cheruiyot wins, and as he does, he slips at the
finish line and hits his head, running 2:07:35. Daniel Njenga
of Kenya is second in 2:07:40, Jimmy Muindi of Kenya in
third in 2:07:51, Abdi Abdirahman in fourth in 2:08:56 (a
two-minute personal best), Robert Cheboror of Kenya in
fifth in 2:09:25, with Brian Sell in sixth in 2:10:47---an
8-second personal best. Cheruiyot was taken to the hospital
to be checked out as a precaution, according to the race
management. Hanson's Brooks Distance project and other U.S. runners
were rewarded with their smart running, with Clint Verran in
twelfth in 2:14:23, Chad Johnson in fourteenth in 2:15:03,
Mike Morgan in fifteenth in 2:15:11, Kyle O'Brien sixteenth in
2:15:13, Brandon Leslie is seventeenth in 2:15:20, Luke
Humphrey is eighteenth in 2:15:22, and Jason Hartmann
(making his marathon debut) ran a fine 2:15:50, although he
looked a bit beat up over the last mile. Of nine Americans in the top twenty, eight ran personal
bests! Men's top twenty 1. Robert Cheruiyot, Kenya, 2:07:35, 2. Daniel Njenga,
Kenya, 2:07:40, 3. Jimmy Muindi, Kenya, 2:07:51, 4. Abdi
Abdirahman, USA, 2:08:58 (PB), 5. Robert Cheboror, Kenya,
2:09:25, 6. Brian Sell, USA, 2:10:47 (PB), 7. Japhet Kosgei
Kipkorir, Kenya, 2:11:37, 8. Benjamin Maiyo, Kenya, 2:11:53,
9. Dejene Berhanu, Ethiopia, 2:12:27, 10. Meshack Kosgei
Kirwa, Kenya, 2:12:31, 11.Thomas Kiplitany, Kenya, 2:13:43,
12. Clint Verran, USA, 2:14:23, 13. Charles Kibiwott, Kenya,
2:15:00, 14. Chad Johnson, USA, 2:15:03 (PB), 15. Mike
Morgan, USA, 2:15:11 (PB), 16. Kyle O'Brien, USA, 2:15:13,
17. Brandon Leslie, USA, 2:15:20 (PB), 18. Luke Humphrey,
2:15:22 (PB), 19. John Yuda, Tanzania, 2:15:23, 20. Jason
Hartmann, USA, 2:15:50 (PB) Abdi Abdirahman who took fourth, had this to say after his
race:
"The race was a great race. At 25 or 30k, I thought I had it,
feeling great at 35k, but I made a little mistake. Hard to
close when you have such good marathoners, and that is
what I lost. I was happy with my performance, hopefully, I
can learn from this performance. My focus is to recover and
take a break and deal with my success. After that, me and
my manager, Ray, will figure out what to do next year. I have
a lot of people who help me in marathon. I am just a runner.
Dave Murray, Terrance Mahon, great team effort, especially
Terrance and Greg for riding me with a bike. " It was cold, sometimes you have to tough out the cold
weather. New York and Chicago both present different
challenges, NY has the hills, and Chicago, suits some
athletes, who are like track athletes. NY is course for people
who race well on tough courses." Brian Sell, sixth place finisher had this to say:
"I went through halfway at 1:04:40, and it got kind of windy.
Whole way, wind was in your face, did not get a good feel of
where wind was coming! I don't know, ton of Americans ran
pretty quickly. I was hard being by myself, but it helped
having people to focus on the last few miles. I feel better
already after this race than any other race I have done . . . " ******** Frederico Rosa, the agent for Robert K. Cheruiyot of Kenya,
and Berhane Adere of Ethiopia, had never had a winner in
Chicago. Last month, his athlete at real,-Berlin, a man who
had the big chance of winning there, dropped out. This day
was bittersweet, as Cheruiyot, exhausted at the finish,
slipped and fell. He was taken to the hospital, accompanied
by Rosa who is trained as a sports doctor in his hometown.
Here is what Rosa had to say:
"Robert is okay. He is tired. He was unconscious when it
happened, as he asked Gabriella Rosa, Francisco's father,
if he (Robert) had won the race. He had some confusion. The hospital said that he has a focal concussion and
subarachnoid hemorrhage. He has been treated with Zofran
and will be held overnight for observation." Women's finish Bogomolova, her short stride, her arms pushing and head
starting to swing was in direct contrast to Adere who looked
ready to run a 1,500 meter race. At 25 miles, Adere made
her move and the race was, for all observing, over. Adere
opened her stride and continued to push, through the finish,
which she crossed as the champion in 2:20:42.
Bogomolova did not quit, kicking the distance down from a
lead of eight seconds to five seconds. Bogomolova was
rewarded for her gutsy effort with a second place time of
2:20:47. Both leaders set personal bests by nearly 90
seconds each! Women's Top finishers: Here's what Berhane Adere who debuted in London this
last spring, in 2:21:52 said: Benita Johnson, Australia, New Australian record, 2:22:36,
breaking Lisa Ondieki' national record ******** Final comments Last Saturday night, October 15, Marja Bakker, a long time
manager at the Boston Athletic Association, a 2:57
marathoner and a women who has had an effect on
everyone who has run the fabled Boston Marathon for the
last twenty years, died after a valiant battle with cancer. She
was 59-years-old. It should be noted that Marja was
instrumental in the hiring of Guy Morse, the Executive
Director the Boston Marathon, as it went from an amateur
race to the professional event it is today. The Nike Women's Marathon held its' last training club run
on Wednesday evening and I participated with the walking
group. I went out on a 3-mile walk with Nichelle, a long time
runner and her friend, Nirange, a new mother, who was
going for her first half marathon. Both women participated in
the entire series of training runs over the entire summer.
The workouts got both women to focus on the event, and the
added incentive of not letting the other person down by not
showing up was also instrumental in both women achieving
their goals! Part of the goal, besides making the finish, are
the necklaces from Tiffanys awarded to each and every
women finisher. On Thursday morning, about the time that a memorial
service was being held in Boston for Marja, I was jogging
through the Muir woods under the most beautiful Redwood
trees. The smell of the trees, the magnificence of the view,
and the joys of the running among the most beautiful places
in the world was overcoming. I thought of Marja, and her
smile when something went well. I decided to jog up one
more ridge in her honor, and then,
I turned around. Of course I got lost, and my hour walk/jog
became about seventy minutes. Marja would have
understood. I wrote an email to a friend, Dave Frank about running in
Muir woods for the first time in 30 years. Frankie emailed
back about running with some buddies from school up here
as well. On Friday morning, the group I was with, at the Nike PR
Summit, went up near the top of Mount Tam, in Mill Valley.
Walking up the trail was pretty challenging for me, as our
crew took off up the hills and steps, but the reward of
coming back downhill on gentle trails, seeing the sun rise
over the San Francisco Bay again reminded me of why so
many of us run and walk. Friday night, I finally arrived in Chicago for The LaSalle Bank
Chicago Marathon about midnight, after a delayed flight due
to a) weather, b) too many flights into Chicago, c) modern
flying conditions. Yesterday, Saturday, October 21, the Running Network had
an Industry Party in Chicago. At the event, I made a few
comments about the incredible growth in our sport. At the
time that 40,000 runners are finishing in The LaSalle Bank
Chicago Marathon, 15,000 women are running and walking
in San Francisco at the Nike Women's Marathon. I
mentioned to our 150 race directors and store owners that
part of the success of our sport was that fitness was one of
the few things that people could control in their lives with
various levels of heightened security, wars, nuclear testing
by third world countries lead by leaders with very bad hair,
and job insecurity. Nearly every weekend this fall there are marathons with
crowds over 10,000. The Spirit of St. Louis Marathon had
nearly 15,000 last year and should top 18,000 next year!
The challenges for our sport are to find ways to keep the
sport growing. The Nike Run Hit Remix events have gotten
young adults to run an event. High schoolers all over the
country are involved in cross-country, 300,000 plus of them! But today, with 34,698 official starters at the marathon, and a
beautiful race up front, it was reassuring to find that runners
and walkers, young and old, swift and not so swift, had
taken six months of their lives to train for two to six hours of
memories. Berhane Adere and Galina Bogomolova showed
the world how patience in a marathon can pay off. Robert K.
Cheruiyot, who would spend the night in the hospital and
his win and fall at the finish line, showed that, after all the
signage is down, a marathon is still a race where one's
mitochondria are squished, one's energy and emotion is
drained and the human spirit wins out. And American male
distance runners, led by Abdi Abdirahman and Brian Sell,
showed that nine marathoners in the top twenty, eight
getting personal bests, is no fluke... ********
atf newswire is published by shooting star media, inc. for
the good of the sport, http://www.shootingstarmediainc.com. Shooting Star Media, Inc. is a proud member of the
Running Network, http://www.runnningnetwork.com copyright 2006, all rights reserved. **********
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