ING New York City Marathon - 2007 Preview

New York City Marathon Preview 2007
By Sharon Ekstrom

From the New York Road Runners 2007 ING New York City Marathon Press Releases

On Sunday, November 4, 2007 an outstanding field of elite runners will compete in the 2007 New York City Marathon. Both the men's and women's fields are full of fierce competitors and there is significant prize money at stake - particularly in the women's race where the $500,000 payout for the first Marathon Majors Series will be descided. New for 2007, the New York City Marathon will not make use of pacemakers (aka "Rabbits") and how this will affect the race is anyone's guess. Can we pick the winner - yes we can pick... But given the extraordinary depth of both the men's and women's fields we would most likely be wrong. Below are the men and women to watch - and there are a lot of them....

The Men's Race
Thirteen men who have run sub-2:11 marathons (including eight of whom have run sub-2:08) are scheduled to start the New York City Marathon. Marilson Gomes dos Santos (BRA) who flew under the radar to victory at the 2006 New York City Marathon will be back to defend his title. The little-known Brazilian had surged at mile 18 while other better-known runners - such as Paul Tergat (KEN), Stephen Kiogora (KEN), Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) and Stefano Baldini (ITA) - just watched and failed to react to the impetuous move.

Winning the 2006 contest in 2:09:58, Marilson dos Santos (age 30) returns to New York on the tail end of an incredible year of personal bests - 2:08:37 (8th place) at the 2007 London Marathon, a 59:33 (7th Place) at the World Championship Half Marathon in Udine and a 27:28 (4th place) in the 10000M at the Nacht van de Euregio in Belgium.

Some notable men who will be returning are: Kiogora (KEN/32) who was runner up at the 2006 New York City Marathon. Kiogora was the only runner to keep up with Paul Tergat running for second place in the final miles of the 2006 New York City Marathon and beat Tergat in the final 200 yards of the race by four seconds. Third at the 2007 Boston Marathon, Kiogora will undoubtably be a leader on Sunday and try to gain a win at one of the Majors. Rodgers Rop (KEN/31), was champion at both the 2002 Boston and New York City Marathons with a 2:08:07 and 2:09:02 respectively and recently helped pace Haile Gebrselassie to a new world record at the 2007 Berlin Marathon, running at that world record pace up to the 25K mark. Showing continued improvement in 2007, Rop won the 2007 Hamburg Marathon in a personal best of 2:07:32 and the Alphen aan den Rijn 20K in a personal best of 58:03. Ramaala (age 35), the 2004 New York City Marathon champion, will be returning for his sixth New York City Marathon. Despite a slew of recent poor performances, none should underestimate Ramaala's ability to power through a race as exemplified by his 2005 New York City Marathon sprint-to-the-finish against Paul Tergat, World Record Holder at the time. In a photo finish, Tergat inched out Ramaala by three tenths of a second - the closest race in New York City Marathon history. Baldini (age 36), the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and reigning European Champion, will also be in the lead pack. Having run ten sub 2:10 marathons since 1997, not to mention the Olympic Gold Medal, Baldini is one to watch. Martin Lel, the (KEN/29) 2003 Champion of the New York City Marathon and three-time winner of the London Marathon (2003, 2005 and 2007) has gone head-to-head and beaten many of the top athletes in this field - dos Santos, Ramaala and Baldini. Lel is currently on fire with victories at the 2007 Great North Run in 60:10 and the 2007 London Marathon in 2:07:41. Finally, chasing Lel will be Abderrahim Goumri who ran his debut marathon at the 2007 London Marathon and finished in 2:07:44, a close second to Lel.

Other men to watch - although these men will be below the radar and are longshots for the win - are James Kwambai (KEN/24) and MarathonGuide.com-sponsored athlete Joseph Chirlee (KEN/27). Kwambai debuted at the 2006 Brescia Marathon with a win in 2:10:20, followed by a win at the 2006 Beijing Marathon in 2:10:36. In 2007, Kwambai ascended to higher profile races and finished as runner-up at the Boston Marathon in 2:14:33 and finished fourth at the New York City Half Marathon in a 61:03. Chirlee began running marathons in December 2006 and has shown incredible improvement in his three marathons. His debut at the 2006 Rocket City Marathon generated a win, but an undistinguished time of 2:23:32. He shaved four minutes off his finish time (2:19:17) to win the Inaugural 2007 Georgia Marathon, switching from the Half-Marathon to the Marathon the night before the race. In his third Marathon, Chirlee dropped his PR by more than seven minutes to finish the 2007 Rock 'N' Roll San Diego in fourth place in 2:12:10. The young Kenyan also showed heart in the New York City Half-Marathon where he ran in the lead pack with only Haile Gebrselassie, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Abdi Abdirahman and James Kwambai as Gebreselassie ran a 59:24 Half-Marathon (Chirlee dropped back to finish in fifth place in 64:27 at that race).

The Women's Race
The women's elite roster marks one of the most impressive women's fields ever assembled. You've probably heard us at MarathonGuide.com write that before, but we can not be more serious when the roster includes runners such as Prokopcuka, Radcliffe, Ndereba, Wami and Laroupe to name a few. Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) (age 29) returns to defend her title and fight for the World Marathon Major's $500,000 prize purse. Despite being the two-time winner of the New York City Marathon with a 2:25:05 in 2006 and a 2:24:41 in 2005 and two-time runner up of the Boston Marathon 2006 and 2007, Prokopcuka whose personal best of 2:22:56 at the 2003 World Championships in Osaka, faces competition with five women who have achieved sub-2:22 finishes.

Among the women's line-up are the fastest two marathoners in the world: Paula Radcliffe (GBR/33) and Catherine Ndereba (KEN) (35) both of whom need little introduction. Radcliffe and Ndereba have met in competition just three times before: first at the 2002 Chicago Marathon where Radcliffe won with a 2:17:28 and Ndereba came in second with a 2:19:26. In the 2003 London Marathon, Radcliffe set the World Record with a 2:15:25, while Ndereba was runner up with a 2:19:55. Both Ndereba and Radclifee were at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where Radcliffe dropped out of the race while Ndereba continued on to win the Silver Medal in 2:26. In the top seven fastest women's marathons of all time, Radcliffe is represented with four finishes, wihle Ndereba is represented with two finishes - these are impressive women. Radcliffe took time off to give birth to her first child, and the New York City Marathon will be just her second race since returning - her first race was the 2007 Great North Run where Radcliffe finished a disappointing second. Ndereba holds the second fastest time (2:23:03 in 2003) ever run at New York, while Radcliffe holds the third fastest time (2:23:10 in 2004) at New York. putting these two together and assuming they are healthy and in good form, we can see the current course record - held by Margaret Okayo (2:23:31 in 2003) - being surpassed.

Also, among the top level field is Gete Wami (ETH/32). Wami is a no nonsense runner - two-time winner of the Berlin Marathon (2206 and 2007) and runner up at the 2007 London Marathon. Defying the contemporary custom that Elite athletes run just a couple of marathons per year and take at least five months off between marathons, Wami will be running after completing the Berlin Maraton just 34 days earlier - all in pursuit, presumably, of a $500,000 bonus for winning the World Marathon Majors series. Wami's beautiful ucontested victory at the 2007 Berlin Marathon in a 2:23:17 remains fresh in our minds; but it's her previous successes and personal best of 2:21:34 at the 2006 Berlin Marathon which means that she is a threat to the field and a likely spoilerProkopcuka's guarantee of the World Marathon Majors $500,000 bonus. Sunday's race marks Wami's marathon debut in the USA and we will see how well she has recovered from her 2007 Berlin Marathon.

Also, on the women's roster are Tegla Loroupe (KEN/34), Constantina Tomescu-Dita (ROM/37), Salina Kosgei (KEN) (30) and Lidiya Grigoreyva (RUS/33) - all of whom could be in contention for a win, but will most likely finish in spots three through ten. Loroupe, a previous world-record holder in the marathon, has been running marathons for fourteen years wininng nine of those, including the New York City Marathon in 1994 (2:27:34) and 1995 (2:28:06); the 1999 Berlin Marathon (2:20:43 PR) and 2000 London Marathon (2:23:55). She has participated in three Olympic Games in the 10,000 meter (1992, 1996 and 2000) and the marathon (2000) and was the champion at the World Championships Half Marathon in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Although her current finishes have slowed over the years, the marathon can be anyone's race given the conditions. Tomescu-Dita has had a string of successes predominantly at the Chicago Marathon - Champion in 2004 and Runner-Up in 2003 and 2005. Despite her blow up at the 2006 Chicago Marathon where she went out too fast, her personal best of 2:21:30 at the 2005 Chicago Marathon and third place at the 2007 London Marathon in 2:23:55 position her as a threat to the leaders. Kosgei whose marathon resume includes a 2:25:30 (4th place) at the 2004 New York City Marathon, a personal best of 2:23:22 (2nd place) at the 2006 Berlin Marathon and 2:24:13 (4th place) at the 2007 London Marathon is a consistent runner who has placed in the top four at all four of the marathons she has run. Grigoryeva was 12th at the 2004 New York City Marathon with a 2:34:39; but she quickly made improvements, winning the 2005 Paris Marathon in 2:27:01, the 2006 LA Marathon in a personal best time of 2:25:10 and the 2007 Boston Marathon in a 2:29:18.

The World Marathon Majors 2006/2007 Series Draws to a Close:
The first World Marathon Majors series officially draws to a close with the 2007 New York City Marathon. While Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot clinched the men's title earlier in 2007, the women's title - and accompanying $500,000 jackpot - will be determined at New Yrok. Wami and Prokopcuka are both in contention for the women's prize and their relative performance at New York will determine the award. Wami has 65 points putting her in first place after her win at the Berlin Marathon. Prokopcuka has 55 points and in order to win the title and prize will need a win at the 2007 New York City Marathon or a runner-up finish with Wami in fourth or lower spot.

The Wheelchair Race
This may very well be the deepest field in the wheelchair race. With a larger prize purse of $40,000. The men's field has greats such as 2006 defending champion Kurt Fearnley, Krige Shiabort, Ernst Van Dyk, Saul Mendoza and 2007 Boston Marathon winner Masazumi Soejima. In 2006, Fearnley stole the show when he set a course by 1.5 minutes (1:29:22) shattering the record previously held by Ernst Van Dyk. In addition, Fearnley's time had slowed when he had tipped during a turn and still managed an incredible time. In the women's field, 2006 champion 21 year old Amanda McGrory is back to defend her title against two-time New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon champion Edith Hunkeler. Hunkeler had sat out of last year's race with a broken leg. 2007 Boston Marathon winner Wakako Tsuchida is also present to challenge the women's field.

The Major Elite Fields and New York Marathon Histories