Samuel Muturi after his victory in Xiamen (© Sasa Kralj)
The 2011 Beijing International Marathon - an IAAF Gold Label Road Race - will see many familiar runners returning to the Chinese capital on Sunday morning (16). Last year the times in this marathon were not very impressive, but the weather forecast promises almost perfect marathon weather this year with no rain and a decent temperature around 15 degrees Celsius during the race.
Last year’s men’s winner Ethiopian Siraj Amda Bene has not been entered this time, but the 2009 winner Kenyan Samuel Muturi will start. The 25-year-old set his personal best 2:08:20 in that race, but his only 2011 start didn’t go well as he did not finish the race in Daegu, Korea in April. Last year Muturi placed in a disappointing sixth place in Beijing more than two minutes behind the winner.
Also returning to Beijing are the third and fourth place athletes from the fast 2009 race where the first five runners clocked times under 2 hours and 10 minutes. Kenyan Benson Barus (3rd) and Moroccan Rachid Kisri (4th) are running this time too. Barus clocked 2:08:51 here in 2009 and has taken a big leap forward this season winning the Prague Marathon in May in a fast 2:07:07 personal best which makes him the number one favourite in this race. Kisri was fourth in that same Prague Marathon in a season’s best 2:09:42 and the Moroccan has an even faster 2:06:48 PB from 2009. He also placed 11th in Daegu at the World Championships clocking 2:13:24.
Other contenders for the top places include several runners who have already set good personal bests earlier this season. 29-year-old Ethiopian Hailu Lemma set a 2:09:50 personal best in Xiamen, China in January and countryman Dereje Abera was second in Ottawa, Canada in May in a 2:10:19 PB as well. Another notable name is seasoned Moroccan Ahmed Baday, 37, who has matured to a good marathon runner late in his career. Baday won the Oita Marathon in February in Japan clocking a 2:10:14 personal best and was part of the Moroccan team in Daegu finishing in 27th place (2:17:59).
On the women’s side the usual suspects from China are not there as the runners who were part of their Daegu World Championships team will not be starting. Effectively this means that the reigning Beijing champion Wang Jiali, who clocked 2:29:31 for the win in the 2010 edition of this marathon, will not be running. Same goes for Chen Rong, who was second in 2010 and 2008. There is also no indication whether the 2009 World champion Bai Xue, the winner of the 2008 and 2009 Beijing International Marathon, has overcome her injury and run this marathon.
But there is no shortage for top runners for women even with no Chinese stars in the race. One of the best women’s marathons runners all-time, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya will run in China for only the second time in her career. The 39-year-old comes back to Beijing where she won the silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games marathon. The Kenyan also has two World titles from 2003 and 2007 and was also second in the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens. This will be her first marathon in almost two years with the last one in Yokohama in November 2009 where she clocked 2:29:13. Ndereba has run three times under the 2:20 limit, twice in Chicago where she won in 2001 in a personal best 2:18:47 (and 2:19:26 in 2002) and in London 2003 (2:19:55).
Other favourites include 25-year-old Ethiopian Yeshi Esayias, who was second in Daegu in April in a 2:26:04 personal best. Polish Karolina Jarzynska is also in the race having set a 2:27:16 personal best in Yokohama in February. The top Chinese in the race is 29-year-old Wei Yanan, who has a 2:27:13 season’s best from Seoul this March. The army runner has a much faster PB 2:23:12 also from Seoul in 2007 and won the Beijing International Marathon back in 2000 clocking a 2:26:34 result for the win then.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
