China's Xue Bai celebrates her IAAF World Championship win in the women's Marathon (© Getty Images)
Berlin World Champion Bai Xue of China will return to defend her Beijing International Marathon title, when the 2009 edition of the race takes place this Sunday (18).
The 29th Beijing International Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
Tens of thousands of fans are expected to crowd into the historic Tiananmen Square at the marathon start to cheer on Bai and other home grown runners, especially the women who took top honours last year. The race wraps with a run down Olympic Boulevard, past the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium and Water Cube. Sunday’s weather is predicted to be partly cloudy, 7 to 15 C, with winds of up to 24 km per hour.
A record 30 million RMB ($4.4 million) has been splurged on this year’s event, making it the most profitable one to-date.
Bai defends title
Led by Bai Xue, the Chinese women made a clean sweep of the podium in the city race last year. Her winning time was 2:26:47.
Bai, who will turn 21 later this year, is the youngest ever World marathon champion taking gold in Berlin with a 2:25:15 run, and then graciously acknowledging the absence of World record holder Paula Radcliffe and current world season leader Irina Mikitenko, neither of whom were able to participate.
With her this weekend are Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Zhou Chunxiu (PB 2:19:51) and fourth-placer Zhu Xiaolin (PB 2:23:57). The two finished a mere 9 seconds apart and then less than a half-minute apart in Berlin, placing 4th and 5th respectively at the World Championships.
Another youth prodigy running Sunday is Alice Timbilil of Kenya, who burst onto the international stage at the age of 16 by winning the 10,000m at the 1999 national championships and the World Youth championship title at 3000m. She ran a PB of 2:26:35 in Paris last year.
Also competing are Hayato Hasso of Ethiopia (PB 2:34:01), and North Koreans Cha Jong Ok (PB 2:29:00) and Pak Yong Ae (PB 2:31:20).
Kenyans to dominate men’s race again?
Kenyans swept the men’s race last year and are looking for a repeat performance Sunday. The international men’s field features no less than 19 Kenyan runners. William Kipsang, who ran his personal best of 2:05:49 last year in Rotterdam, is new to Beijing but a hot favourite to win the men's title.
No stranger to running in Asia, Kipsang, who won in Seoul, Korea in 2005, has set personal bests this year at 20km (62:56; 8 Mar) and most recently 10 miles (20 Sep; 49:36) and looks ready for a good time in what will be his first marathon of the year.
Rachid Kisri of Morocco, 34, is an experienced marathoner but only broke through to the highest world class level this year when finishing fifth in Paris with a huge personal best of 2:06:48. He knows China having finished third at the beginning of the year in Xiamen in his previous PB of 2:10:33 (3 Jan), and should be Kipsang's strongest challenger.
“Last year, I finished in the fourth place, (which was) no good. This time, I hope I can do better,” Kisri remarked to the press on Thursday (15). Last year he ran 2:11:31.
The 2007 Beijing Marathon champion, Ren Longyun of China, placed 8th in Xiamen this year with 2:08:05. He holds the national record of 2:08:15 which he set when taking second place in the 2007 edition of the Beijing behind Kenyan winner Nephat Kinyaniui whose 2:08:09 on that occasion was also personal best.
Kinyaniui also returns on Sunday as do his compatriots David Kemboi (2:08:34; 5th Paris 2008), Benson Barus (2:08:34; 2nd Milan 2006) and Samuel Muturi Mugo who won in Xiamen this January in his PB of 2:08:51.
Simon Wangai (2:10:32 PB; 2006), who took third in last year’s race with a time of 2:10:52, will also return.
Two North Koreans and four Japanese with PBs ranging from 2:12:48 to 2:17:14 round out the elite field.
Jean Yung for the IAAF
