Marathon not playing favorites
Plenty of balance afoot in men's, women's fields
The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon hasn't been this wide open in years. The men's and women's champions from 2005 aren't back, and the starter list is swelling with world-class runners looking for fame and fortune.
With $650,000 in prize money plus the carrot of a $1 million payoff in the new World Marathon Majors series, the 29th Chicago Marathon will be the epicenter of global running this weekend.
Top contenders from Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan, Tanzania, Romania, Russia, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and even the United States will give Chicago's fall sports landscape a healthy shot of adrenaline on what could be a chilly, rainy day.
Felix Limo of Kenya, who won the men's race last year with a ferocious kick, pulled out last week because of a bad back. Deena Kastor, the brightest light in American women's running since Joan Benoit Samuelson starred in the mid-1980s, opted to run in New York on Nov. 5 instead of defending her Chicago title.
If one man has a chip on his shoulder this weekend, it could be Benjamin Maiyo of Kenya. In his last three marathons, it has been second city for him. He was runner-up in Los Angeles and Chicago (2:07:09, seven seconds behind Limo) in 2005 and Boston in 2006. He has trained hard. It boils down to one question: If Maiyo gets the lead, can he hold it? So far, the answer has been no.
Maiyo lost in Boston in April because two-time Beantown champ Robert K. Cheruiyot of Kenya passed him and set a course record of 2:07:14. Cheruiyot is trying Chicago's flat course, looking to win again and take the top spot on the World Marathon Majors leaderboard. The winner gets 25 points, and a victory Sunday would put Cheruiyot squarely in the lead with 50.
Maiyo, with 15 points off his runner-up performance in Boston, could jump to 40 with a victory. If Cheruiyot runs into trouble, Maiyo could take the lead in the circuit standings.
''Our philosophy is get the best athletes we can, let them prepare, bring them in and turn them loose,'' Pinkowski said. ''We've kind of gone back to the basics and gotten very talented athletes that complement each other's strengths.''
That means even though marquee names such as Kenya's Paul Tergat, American Khalid Khannouchi (slightly injured), Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe (pregnant) and Kenya's Catherine Ndereba aren't running Chicago this year, a lot of good runners are.
Pinkowski has brought in four men who have cracked 2:07. That's the baseball equivalent of four players hitting 40 home runs -- without steroids. Seven entrants have bettered 2:08.
In the 2:06 mix is Japanese-trained Daniel Njenga of Kenya, who, like Maiyo, has unfinished business. In four consecutive Chicago marathons, he has finished second, third, second and third. He ran 2:06:16 in 2002.
Also expected in the first pack are Kenyans Robert Cheboror, the 2004 Amsterdam winner in 2:06:23; Wilson Onsare, who was third in Paris in 2003 with a time of 2:06:47; and Charles Kibiwott, who was third in Rotterdam in April with a 2:06:52.
Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita probably has to be the favorite in a women's field that features four runners who have gone under 2:22 and six who have bested 2:25.
Tomescu-Dita, the 2004 Chicago champion, ran a personal-record 2:21:30 last year as Kastor barely held her off. She also bested Radcliffe's 20K world record with a 1:03:23 on Oct. 8 in Debrecen, Hungary, but finished two seconds behind Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands.
Russians Ludmila Petrova (2:21:29 PR) -- who could jump to 40 WMM points with a win -- and Galina Bogomolova (2:21:58) and Ethiopia's Berhane Adere (2:21:52) are primed for good races. Others, including Australia's Benita Johnson and Romania's Nuta Olaru, will be in the mix for a possible surprise ending.
The potholes have been patched by the city, but the road to glory is bound to have a few bumps. That's why they run the race.