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Mar-30-2006
Paris Marathon Boasts Fast Fields
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
With big spring marathons like Boston and London coming up after this weekend's IAAF World Cross Country Championships, some other great marathons which routinely feature fast times may escape your attention.
One such race is the Marathon de Paris which will celebrate its 30th edition on Sunday, April 9. The one-loop course which begins on the world famous l'Avenue des Champs-Elysées, has played host to some very fast times and close finishes. Four men have run sub-2:07 here, including course record holder, Michael Rotich of Kenya, who won the race in 2003 (2:06:33) and who will wear bib #1 in the race.
Rotich will face a very strong field, 13 of whom have broken 2:10 in their careers, and most of whom are from African countries. His key rivals look to be countrymen Joshua Chelang'a (2:07:05 PB), Boniface Usisivu (2:07:50), Paul Biwott (2:08:17), and Samson Kandie (2:08:31). Other top men are Teferi Wodajo of Ethiopia (2:08:11), Willy Kalombo of Democratic Republic of Congo (2:08:40), Pavel Loskutov of Estonia (2:08:53) and Ottavio Andriani of Italy (2:09:07). The top Frenchman in the field is Patrick Tambwe who received a French passport earlier this year.
The women's elite field is smaller, but of solid quality, and will feature the marathon debut of Moroccan, Asmae Leghzaoui, who has run 1:08:34 for the half-marathon distance at Marrakech in 1999. Leghzaoui returned to competion last year after serving a two-year suspension for a doping offense
(EPO) and raced strongly, bagging six North American road racing victories.
Six other women entered have broken 2:30: Irina Timofeyeva of Russia (2:25:29), Mihaela Botezan of Romania (2:25:32), Asha Gigi of Ethiopia (2:26:05), Leila Aman of Ethiopia (2:27:54), Alina Tecuta-Gherasim of Romania (2:28:17), and Zaia Dahmani of France (2:29:30).
There is significant prize money on the line. The male winner will receive 50,000 Euros assuming he breaks 2:11:45. The women's winner will receive the same amount assuming she breaks 2:23:15, a time just a little slower than Marleen Renders's 2:23:05 course record set in 2002. Prize money is equal for men and women through 10th place, but the men who finish 11th through 15th will all receive 500 Euros in recognition of the greater depth in the men's race.
Organizers have reported that 35,000 runners have entered from 87 countries; entries filled five months before the race. Seven thousand entrants are from outside of france, led by 1987 from Great Britain, 905 from Germany,
668 from the United States, and 448 from Italy. Behind London and Berlin, the Paris Marathon is the third-largest in Europe.
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