Marathon series hits 2-year mark with successful run
When the World Marathon Majors series was launched on 2006, organizers hoped to add a level of excitement to the sport.
Consider it a mission accomplished as the series concludes its first two-year competition with the running of the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 4, 2007.
In the men's field, Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot will be honored as the men's World Marathon Majors champion in a special luncheon following the New York race. Cheruiyot won The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in 2006 and back-to-back Boston Marathons in 2006 and 2007 to pile up 75 points (25 points for a first-place finish).
He will also run the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. For the top score of the two-year scoring period, Cheruiyot will take home $500,000.
But in the women's World Marathon Majors series, it's a fight to the finish following a victory by Ethiopian Gete Wami at the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 30. She pulled ahead of Jelena Propopcuka from Latvia with 65 points to Propopcuka's 55 points.
They will face one another at the New York City Marathon. Propopcuka, the defending champion, will be running with fresh legs. Wami will be running on all guts in her quest for the World Marathon Majors women's title and the $500,000 payday by running another marathon in less than two months.
A top finish is absolutely critical. The second-place runner gets 15 WMM points followed by 10 points for third, 5 points for fourth and 1 point for fifth.
"We can look forward to a spectacular finale in the New York City Marathon," said Mark Milde, race director for the Berlin race.
Game planning: Khalid Khannouchi is a four-time winner of the Chicago Marathon so if anyone qualifies as a guru on what it takes to win in Chicago, it's him.
He belives it will be a competitive race on Sunday. To beat defending champion Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya, Khannouchi thinks the other runners will have to push the pace early.
Khannouchi himself won't run on Sunday as he is preparing to run the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in New York next month.
"It would be an honor to represent the United States in the Olympics," said Khannouchi, a native Moroccan who became an U.S. citizen.
Go Cubs Go: If the Cubs manage to win today to force a Game 4 on Sunday at noon, it will create a potential traffic nightmare on the north side of Chicago. The marathon route passes a few blocks east of the park at Addison and Broadway. But since the marathon starts at 8 a.m. and the fact that this mile marker is early on in the race, a majority of the marathoners will be through this neighborhood by the first pitch. The best advice is to take public transportation.
By the numbers: Marathoning has not only grown in terms of the number of participants. Times have gone down too as running technology and training programs have advanced. Dan Cloeter won the first Chicago Marathon in 1977 in 2:17:52 while Robert Cheruiyot finished the race in 2:07:35 in 2006 ¦ Running USA's Road Running Information Center issues an annual report on trends in marathon running. In the most recent report, it noted that in 1980, 89.5 percent of marathon runners were men while 10.5 were women. That split in 2006 was 60 percent men and 40 percent women. There were an estimated 25,000 people who finished marathons in 1976. Compare that to an estimated 410,000 who made it through 26.2 miles in 2006.
The 30-Year Club: And then there were nine. At the 25th anniversary of the Chicago Marathon in 2002, there were 12 runners who had run in all the previous marathons. On Sunday, that number has dwindled to nine men who will participate in the 30th running of the race. Daily Herald area alumni runners are Randy Burt of Antioch, George Mueller of Bloomingdale and Ron Williams of Downers Grove.
"I get to be a celebrity every five years - you have to enjoy it while you can," Mueller said. "Running a marathon is one of those 1,000 things to do before you die. It's my little holiday of the year."
Mueller credited his longevity to good fortune (even though he broke his leg in February and had a plate put in) and family support. His son George will run his fourth marathon with him and his daughter Kim will run her first marathon.