February 25th, 2010

WANJIRU & LEL TO DUEL IN NEW ORLEANS

by Toni Reavis in Featured, News and Views, Previews, Uncategorized, athletes

Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon & 1/2 Marathon will showcase perhaps the most dynamic half-marathon duel ever staged on American soil. 2008 Olympic Marathon gold medalist and half-marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru will battle head-to-head against fellow Kenyan and three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel as both men set their sites on the April 25th Virgin London Marathon where Wanjiru broke Lel’s course record by five seconds in 2009 after Lel bested Wanjiru in the 2008 race (picture above). Morocco’s  Abderrahim Goumri, third in `08 London, was to have joined Lel and Wanjiru in New Orleans as a tune up for the April 19th Boston Marathon, but has pulled out with an unspecified injury.

“To draw the likes of Sammy and Martin to New Orleans demonstrates our commitment to attract the biggest names in the world of running,” said Matt Turnbull, Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Competitor Group. “We’re excited to have two of the greatest road racers in history at the start line this weekend.”

The first Kenyan to ever win the Olympic Marathon Gold Medal, Wanjiru set the standing half-marathon world record of 58:33 in 2007 at the City-Pier-City Loop in The Hague, The Netherlands. That record marked the third time he had broken the world record at the distance, the first set at age 18.

“The timing of the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon is perfect for athletes like me who are preparing for a spring marathon,” said Wanjiru. “For me it’s a great opportunity to see where I am before London. Really, I am just looking to come and run a solid race and this gives me a great chance to see where I’m at and what condition I am in.”

Still at the tender age of 23, Wanjiru already owns a career’s list of global achievements, including course record wins at both the 2009 London Marathon (2:05:10) and 2009 Chicago Marathon (2:05:41) - both represent the fastest times ever run in the respective nations. With his wins in Beijing, London, and Chicago Wanjiru earned the 2008-2009 World Marathon Majors championship, and its $500,000 bonus.

31 year-old Martin Lel has been one of the dominant marathoners of his era. He won the 2005, 2007 and 2008 London marathons, as well as the 2003 and 2007 New York City titles. . The Kenyan superstars will be joined on the start-line by Ireland’s Martin Fagen who owns a half-marathon personal best of 1:00:57. Also expected to contend is Kenyan McDonard Ondara, winner of the 2007 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in San Jose.

Besides Morocco’s Goumri, originally scheduled to race, but now out, are Duncan Kibet, the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon champion – he’s opted to run the Lisbon Half instead of Mardi Gras, Ryan Hall, the American star preparing for the April 19th Boston Marathon, - his sub-par 64:07 at the Rock `n` Roll Half in Phoenix in January has him retooling at his Mammoth Lakes, California training base, and errahim Goumri, the Moroccan national record holder in the marathon, also signed for Boston, but who pulled out of New Orleans with an unspecified injury.

The women’s professional field will be led by Berhane Adere of Ethiopia, one of the most decorated female distance runners of all time. Adere, who will compete in the ½ marathon, as well, won back-to-back Chicago Marathons in 2006-07 and was the winner of the Dubai Marathon in 2008. She won the gold medal at the 2002 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships and the `03 World Championships 10,000 meters. Last summer she won the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon. Her half-marathon personal best, 1:08:17, was set at the 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Bristol, England, where she won the bronze medal.

Like the men’s field, the women’s field lost a top contender when 2009 Boston Marathon Champion Salina Kosgei has been forced to withdraw from the head-to-head encounter with Adere with an injury. Someone who may challenge is New Zealand Olympian Kim Smith, winner of four NCAA championships at Providence College. She is no stranger to international level racing, having finished 7th at the 2009 world half marathon championships, and placing top-10 at the 2008 Olympics and 2009 world championships over 10,000m.

Adere and Smith will be joined by Ilsa Paulson, 20, the 2009 U.S. Marathon Champion, who recently finished a distant second to Deena Kastor at last month’s P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon.

END

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