The World Marathon Majors 2009-2010 season will most likely be decided tomorrow, as all of the top players in both the men’s and women’s races are running Chicago so none of the New York City runners are in contention unless there are some major upsets.
The Americans should be able to put in a strong showing on the women’s side, but I expect that for the men it will remain a race within a race with Ryan Hall having dropped out a few weeks ago.
Times may not be as quick as they’ve been in years past with some high temperatures expected, but hopefully there will be enough water and the race won’t be shut down early like it was a few years ago.
Watch this video for a preview of who to watch for during the race:
Transcription
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Tomorrow is the Chicago Marathon, which will almost certainly be the stage for determining the winners of the World Marathon Majors.
The big duel will be between Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia and Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya, who both lead the marathon majors with 50 points each. If either of them win, there’s no way for anybody else to catch up to them. Deriba Merga could take the lead with a win, though, if neither them place very high on Sunday.
For the Chicago win, though, I’m going to bet on Robert Cheruiyot the younger. His marathon PR is most of a minute slower than those guys (as well as a few others such as Vincent Kipruto and Feyisa Lilesa) but he’s coming off of a strong win at Boston this past Spring and a win tomorrow can set him up nicely for the the 2010-2011 World Marathon Majors.
On the American front, Ryan Hall has pulled out of the race which opens the field for top honors to quite a few guys. Jason Hartmann comes into the race with a 2:12:09 PR but Justin Young and Nick Arciniaga should be right on his shoulder. Keep your eye on Chad Johnson and Mike Morgan as well, who are due for a breakout performance.
My guess is that Perry Romanowski will be the first Joggler to finish, so keep your eye out for a guy tossing 3 bean bags for the entire 26.2.
I think that the Americans are going to fare a lot better overall in the women’s race than they will in the men’s race.
Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, Colleen De Reuck and Desiree Davila could all find themselves near the front and breaking into the top 5 overall. You might also see Melissa White and Tera Moody making a play for top 10. Internationally, look for strong performances from Naoko Sakamoto of Japan and Askale Tafa Magarsa of Ethiopia.
The real race, though, is going to be between Irina Mikitenko of Germany, who comes in with a sub-2:20 marathon PR, and Liliya Shobukhova of Russia whose PR is almost 3 minutes slower but who is going to want to beat Irina in order to maintain her lead in the world marathon majors.
The weather forecast is calling for some hot weather, so good luck if you are running and I hope that they have more than enough water on the course this time so there isn’t a repeat from a few years ago.
If you aren’t running, the race will be broadcast live by NBC 5 Chicago if you live in the area or you can be watch it online at nbcchicago.com or at Universal Sports.
I’m planning on watching the coverage at NBC Chicago just because Deena Kastor will be riding the media truck providing coverage of the women’s race and it will be interesting to hear what somebody that actually knows the sport of running has to say.
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Thanks for the vote of confidence! Hopefully, I can qualify for Boston.
I wish you all luck but there is no way you can beat us Kenyans in the marathon. Even my grandmother can run faster.