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Dec-1-2005
Running Times Announces Road Racers of the Year
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
The editors of Running Times announced recently that John Korir of Kenya and Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain had received the #1 spots in their annual Road Racers of the Year rankings. The annual rankings are prepared based on performances from October, 2004 through October 2005, and both Korir and Radcliffe had to overcome formidible competition to get the top-ranked spots.
Korir, who turns 30 on Dec. 15, edged out compatriot Gilbert Okari by less than one point.
"That seems appropriate," said editor Jonathan Beverly, "as both had remarkable years."
Korir won five consecutive races from February through July before finishing second at the Bix 7, beaten by Okari. Okari would defeat Korir three more times after that, but Korir had beaten Okari three times before. According to Beverly, Okari lost the #1 ranking based on two races. When Korir won the World's Best 10-K last February in Puerto Rico, Okari only finished seventh. Then seven months later, Okari placed 25th at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Edmonton, losing valuable points and the #1 ranking.
Korir, who was a pacemaker at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, apparently did not have that DNF count against him. Both Korir and Okari are represented by Tom Ratcliffe.
In the women's rankings Radcliffe finished ahead of the Netherlands' Lornah Kiplagat by a small margin, according to the editors, but it was Radcliffe's defeat of Kiplagat at the ING New York City Marathon in November, 2004 which ultimately gave her the higher ranking. Radcliffe won the race, while Kiplagat finished seventh. During the ranking period, Kiplagat won ten road races, and finished second at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships.
Radcliffe won only four, but her victories included the ING New York City Marathon, Flora London Marathon, and IAAF world Championships in Athletics Marathon which all had stacked fields.
The top Americans in the ranking were Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz., and Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. The magazine did not announce where they fell in the overall rankings.
Running Times, the #2 U.S. running magazine based on audited circulation, will publish their annual Road Racers of the Year rankings in their January/February, 2006 issue which will be available on newsstands on December 6. Weekly updates on their rankings are available at http://www.runningtimes.com.
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