|
Mar-18-2006
Australian, Tanzanians Lead Commonwealth Marathons
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
Against admittedly thin fields, Australian Kerryn McCann and Tanzanians Christopher Isegwe and Samson Ramadhani look like the best bets for medals at tomorrow morning's Commonwealth Games Marathons.
McCann, who will turn 39 in May, is both the Games' defending champion and event record holder. She led an Australian sweep of the podium in 2002 in Manchester, winning the race by nearly five minutes. She is also one of just two women entered here who have broken two hours and 30 minutes for the distance, laying claime to a 2:25:59. (The other is Russian-born Canadian, Lioudmila Kortchaguina with a 2:29:53).
However, Of the 23 women entered some have yet to run what will probably be the best marathons of their careers. Englishwoman Liz Yelling (2:30:58) hasn't yet run a marathon of similar quality to her track bests, while Canadian Nicole Stevenson (2:33:37) certainly has the potential to run faster.
The mighty Kenyans have entered two relatively unknown athletes in Hellen Cherono and Rose Nyangacha. Cherono was third at last year's Prague International Marathon in a personal best 2:31:28, while Nyangacha won last year's ING Brussels Marathon. Her personal best time is 2:34:19.
The men's race is even smaller than the women's, with just 17 athletes entered. Isegwe, the surprise silver medalist at last summer's IAAF World Championships Marathon with a 2:10:21 career best time, leads a strong Tanzanian team which also includes Samson Ramadhani, the fastest man in the field with a 2:08:01 personal best, and Francis Robert Naali, the gold medalist from these Games in 2002.
The Australians also have a solid team, and given that nearly every fan on the course will be cheering for them, they may have a psychological edge.
Andrew Letherby, the bronze medalist from Manchester (2:11:42 personal best), Shane Nankervis (2:12:33) and Scott Westcott (2:11:36) make up the squad.
As on the women's side, Kenya has not entered their "A" team. In fact, Jacob Yator has never run a marathon! The other Kenyan entrant is Fred Mogaka with a 2:14:28 career best at Frankfurt in 2004.
Both marathons will start at the main stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, with the women setting off at 9:30 and the men at 10:15. The athletes will run a 12 km lap of the city before heading north to Carlton, west through the Docklands, then on to St. Kilda. The runners will complete a lap of the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit, then make their way back to the city, and finally finishing back at the MCG.
Noteworthy: The Commonwealth Games record for the men's marathon is some 32 years-old. In 1974, Ian Reginald Thompson of England won the gold in
2:09:12 when the Games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand. His mark, along with Filbert Bayi's 3:32.12 in the 1500m, are the oldest within athletics at these Games. The oldest women's record is the 19.00m throw of shotputter Gael Martin of Australia, set in Edinburgh in 1986.
|
