Today’s 35th New York City Marathon features former champions, Olympic medalists and arguably the strongest American men’s field ever outside of a U.S. championship or Olympic Trials. But as good as the men’s field is, today is all about the ladies, clearly the best women’s field ever in the five boroughs.
Paula Radcliffe is racing for the first time since dropping out of the Olympic Marathon 11 weeks ago, a race in which Deena Kastor took the bronze. That duo leads a field that includes four of the top 10 runners of all time, including Kenyans Tegla Loroupe and Margaret Okayo, with four New York crowns between them. As fields go, it gets no better.
“This is the best women’s field ever [in a city race],” race director Allan Steinfeld said, and it wasn’t hyperbole.
Radcliffe was a late addition – to the chagrin of some of her competition – and her world record 2:15.25 win in London last year is five minutes faster than anybody in the field.
“It’s something you never forget. It’s not going to be a happy memory. Ever. But you move on,” said Radcliffe, who spent two months in Flagstaff, Ariz., preparing for New York champs Okayo, Loroupe and Ludmila Petrova, and newcomers like Kastor and 25-year-old world cross-country champ Benita Johnson, in her Marathon debut.
Okayo and Loroupe have identical 2:20.43 personal bests, but the similarity stops there. The 31-year-old Loroupe hasn’t gone under 2:29 since 2001, while Okayo won London this spring and set course records here in both 2001 and again last year with a 2:22.31.
She also dropped out of Athens, with an inflamed Achilles, but John Manners – an American expert on Kenyan runners – recently picked her to win in 2:19. After correctly predicting the last two men’s champs, he tabbed a Kenyan trio to sweep the wide-open men’s side – and two-time winner John Kagwe wasn’t among the trio.
Michael Rotich, just 22, has the fastest time with last year’s 2:06.33 Paris win. Chris Cheboiboch was runnerup here last year, while Boston champ Timothy Cherigat trains in Boulder, Colo., with coach Dieter Hogen.
Another Hogen runner, U.S. 5,000 record-holder Bob Kennedy, makes his long-anticipated Marathon debut.
It’s a top U.S. men’s field, including Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi – in his fourth marathon in 13 months – and talented 10,000 runner Abdi Abdirahman.
“You run a race to win,” he said. “I want to win, and that’s the honest truth.”