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Dec-2-2005
Jennings to Make Marathon Debut at Cal Int'l
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
The 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials 1500m champion, Gabe Jennings, will run
the
longest race of his career on Sunday when he makes his marathon debut
at the
California International Marathon. The 26 year-old Jennings may be
facing a
raft of Kenyans --or not.
"Not sure how many of these Kenyans will make it here due to Visa
issues,"
said long time race director, John Mansoor in an e-mail message to RRW.
The 5-foot, 11-inch Jennings, who was living in Mendocino and framing
houses
earlier this year, did his training for this race in Mammoth Lakes,
Calif.
at 8000 ft. of altitude. He began his 2005 season on the track,
dropping
out of a 10,000m race before racing at 5000m, 1500m and even 800m
(1:49.67).
He turned to the roads in October, winning the Humboldt Redwoods
Half-Marathon in 1:05:58, placing 15th at the U.S. 10-K road running
championships in Mobile, Ala. in 30:11 in early November, and taking
second
at the Run to Feed the Hungry 10-K in Sacramento on Thanksgiving Day in
29:52.
Mansoor's elite athlete list includes a number of lesser-known Kenyans
(Elly
Kiptarbei Tarus, Cyrus Kipkemboi Metto, Jeckly Kipchoge Biwott, Stephen
Kipchumba Ngisisrei, Noah Koech, Hillary Lelei, Silas Kisorio, and
Ibrahim
Limo), but but also 2003 Cal Int'l Marathon champion Michal Bartoszak
of
Poland (2:12:16 PB), 2000 Twin Cities Marathon champion Sergey Fedotov
of
Russia (2:11:16), and American Patrick Muturi (2:08:59).
Women from Eastern Europe dominate the women's field, led by Wioletta
Kryza
of Poland (whose last name rhymes with "pizza") with a personal best
time of
2:31:54, Alena Vinitskaya of Belarus (2:32:17), Elena Orlova of Russia
(2:34:16), Marina Bychova of Russia (2:42:40) and Rimma Dubovik of
Ukraine
(2:33:54 PB). The top U.S. entrant is Christine Lundy of nearby
Sausalito
with a 2:41:55 career best.
The course from Folsom Dam to downtown Sacramento drops 340 feet (about
104m) and the runners usually enjoy cool or cold weather (Sunday's
forcast
is for high temperaturs of only 57°F/14°C). The course records are
2:29:21
by Nicky Carroll of Australia in 1999 and 2:10:27 by American Jerry
Lawson
in 1993. The race winners will each receive $10,000 from a total prize
purse of $50,000.
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