African armada looking to conquer Madrid Marathon – PREVIEW

Madrid, Spain – More than 15,000 runners will gather on Sunday (17) to take part in the 34th ‘Maratón Popular de Madrid’. This event is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race and has attracted a number of fine specialists over the 42.195Km distance.

Historically, the altitude of Madrid (695m above the sea level) and the undulating profile of its course has defeated the purpose of recording fast times. Actually, the course records remain at 2:11:27 and 2:32:04 but the field assembled for Sunday promises serious attacks on those performances.

Cherogony to strike again – men’s race

In the men’s section, last year’s winner will be in contention in the guise of Kenya’s Thomson Cherogony, who broke the event record on that occasion. The 32-year-old holds a relatively modest 2:10:45 personal best and managed a 2:14:32 time at his other appearance over the distance in 2010 in Singapore.

The large Kenyan squad also includes a triumvirate of sub-2:08 men such as Moses Arusei, Francis Kiprop and Jonathan Kipkorir, third last year in Madrid. The 26-year-old Arusei clocked a remarkable 2:06:50 time to take the runner-up spot in Paris 2008, while Kiprop, 29, has a fastest performance of 2:07:04 set in Berlin to come runner-up two years ago.

However, both Arusei and Kiprop should prove they are able to bounce back after sub-par performances over the distance in Frankfurt and Khon Kaen respectively early this season.

Other Kenyans on show this Sunday are Francis Kibiwott, author of a fine 59:26 career best for the Half Marathon, Alex Kirui (2:09:38) and the Spain-based James Moiben (2:10:42).

The Eritrean charge will be led by Abraham Tadesse (2:09:24), a creditable top-ten marathoner at his two outings in 2010, Lake Biwa (3rd) and Berlin (7th) and Tesfayohannes Mesfen, who finished ninth at the 2006 World Cross Country championships.

The European response should be given by Ukraine’s Vasyl Matviychuk, a 2:10:36 performer and Portugal’s Fernando Silva. On a curious note none of the top Spaniards are on the entry list as the elite runners have opted for attempting to obtain Daegu World Championships qualifying time on other courses throughout Europe.

Ethiopian – Kenyan battle – women’s race

The women’s contest promises to be a fierce fight between the Kenyan and Ethiopian contingents. The former will line-up Hellen Kimutai, a 2:25.52 specialist whose last appearance came in October when she finished 9th at the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:28:38. She will be accompanied by Rose Chepchumba who will be making her debut over the distance after a successful cross country career whose peak took place in 2005 when she managed to place ninth at the World Cross.

As for the Ethiopian armada it includes last year’s victor Desta Girma Tadesse plus Worknesh Tola, a 2:25:37 woman who has not raced over the previous two years, and her compatriot Shuru Diriba who holds a personal best of 2:28:26 and took runner-up place at the San Diego Marathon last June with a 2:29:12 clocking.

Weather forecasters predict a nice day with temperatures ranging between 16 and 20º Celsius for the time of the event.

España the favourite for the 10Km

For the second time, an additional 10Km race will take place alongside the Marathon. The standout athlete will be Spain’s reigning European 5000m silver medallist Jesús España, who is fresh from a convincing win at last Sunday’s SPAR Great Ireland Run (an IAAF Bronze Label Race) held in Dublin.