Boston Marathon - Preview

16 April 2004The 108th running of the Boston Marathon takes place as per tradition on a Monday afternoon - 19 April - along the streets of this historic locale in the U.S. Northeast and its suburbs.

This year's competition, boasting the presence of all three top male finishers from 2003, as well as the superb quality of the top half-dozen entrants on the women's side, is poised to become one of the most intriguing 26.2-mile battles of the year.

Men's Race - champion returns

On the men's side, last year's winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya has travelled to Boston again to take a shot at defending his title.

The 25 year-old who took a surprising win last year in 2:10:11 (PB), recently took a third place finish in the Lisbon Half Marathon (28 March 2004) a result he also achieved while tuning up for last year’s Boston race. Cheruiyot’s time last month was an improvement on his 60:24 third place in 2003, as he finished in a new personal best of 59:54.

However, the defending champion’s job will not be easy, as the impressive depth of the field includes ten sub-2:10 marathoners, and most significantly the two men who recently beat him in Lisbon, Rogers Rop and Martin Lel.

Rop - 2002 winner is back on song

Kenyan Rodgers Rop, a sensational 2002 headline-maker with his victories in both the Boston and New York City races, may very well play the part of the protagonist, especially given his coming off a convincing victory ahead of Cheruiyot in the Lisbon Half Marathon (59:49) last month.

In 2002, Rop took the Boston title in 2:09:02 and went on to take a memorable US double with the New York title too, in his still standing personal best of 2:08:07. Last autumn Rop, despite an injury brought on by over-training, recovered from what had been a disastrous 2003 with a 2:11:11 second place finish in New York. In Boston earlier last year he could finish no better than seventh with 2:16:14.

The pair’s compatriots, Benjamin Kosgei Kimutai and Martin Lel, last year's second and third place finishers respectively, will provide the main challenge.

Lel is also a threat

Lel, 25, is of course the reigning New York Marathon (2:10:30), though his modest personal best of 2:10:02 came from finishing second at the Venice Marathon the previous autumn. He is currently in the form of his life having run a personal half marathon best of 59:51 for second place behind Rop in Lisbon, though he had won that race in 2003 (60:10).

France’s Mohamed Ouaadi, 35, the second-fastest runner among the entrants, 2:07:55 PB from when coming second in the 1999 Fukuoka Marathon, will lead a diverse international field in their charge to upset the Kenyan dominance of the event.

The Frenchman was fourth in both the 2001 Chicago and 2002 New York races, and was the eighth place finisher in the 2000 Olympics, the year in which he won the Paris Marathon.

Yet the surprise of the Boston race could be Kenyan John Korir’s debut at the marathon distance. The 28 year-old who had substantial road race success over shorter distances last year in the USA, recently (on the 4 April) ran a 60:47 PB for fifth place in the Stramilano Half Marathon, and also took the San Juan 10km in Puerto Rico at the end of February in windy conditions in another PB of 27:47.

Women’s Race – Ndereba to star

Cheruiyot’s counterpart on the women's side, 2003 champion Svetlana Zakharova of Russia, has opted for London this year and in her absence, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, reigning World Champion and the second-fastest woman in history with her national record of 2:18:47, is the clear-cut favourite on Monday.

However, Ndereba’s opposition looks hot, as Latvian national record holder Jelena Prokopcuka (2:24:01) - 3rd Chicago, 7th London in 2003 - and Ethiopian Elfenesh Alemu (2:24:29 PR) - 1st Tokyo, 8th London, 6th World Champs in 2003 - lead the elite pack after the World champion.

The cast also includes three other sub-2:26 performers: Nuta Olaru of Romania (2:25:18), Oliviera Jevtic (SCG) the 2003 Rotterdam Marathon winner who holds a 2:25:23 personal best and national record from that race, and Russia's 32 year-old Lyubov Denisova (2:25:58 PB, 5th New York 2003), who was last year's runner-up in Boston (2:26:51).

Separate starts for elite men and women for the first time

Monday will mark the first time in the event’s history that the men and women will enjoy separate starts.  By the time the gun goes off at 11:31 am for the elite women and at 12:00 pm for the elite men and the rest of the field, the temperatures are projected to have reached 13 degrees Celsius.

While this is not unusually uncomfortable for this time of the year in New England, scattered rain showers are likely to descend on the route that originates in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

The difference between a first and a second-place finish as expressed in prize money – is quite significant, something to the tune of $40,000.

Just like last year, winners will receive cheques for $80,000, while runner-ups will have to “settle” for $40,000 apiece. The total purse of this year’s event will amount to $525,000, not including bonuses, and runs 15-deep in the men’s and women’s open divisions.