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Bewag Berlin Half-Marathon Preview
Endurance Excellence in Korean and Kenyan style promises fast race on Sunday
2005-04-01
Patrick Ivuti, Luminita Zaituc and Lee Bong-ju
© bytepark
We are well used to stories of how African athletes built their stamina
by daily runs to school and back. But they are not the only ones : Lee
Bong-ju, South Korea’s Olympic silver medalist in the marathon in
Atlanta in 1996, did just the same. Lee, who has Kenya´s Patrick Ivuti,
the second fastest man ever for the distance, among his rivals in the
Berlin Half-Marathon on Sunday (3.4), also grew up covering long
distances. His trip to school was 12 kilometres each way, building a
foundation that led to winning the Boston marathon in 2001 as well as
that epic finish in Atlanta, when South Africa’s Josiah Thugwane denied
him the Olympic title.
Lee is looking for a fast time on Sunday as part of his gradual
build-up for an autumn marathon. Unusually for the Korean, who rarely
races below the marathon distance, he hasn´t chosen to race a spring
marathon. Instead, he’ll go to the start line on the grand avenue of
Unter den Linden for his first half-marathon in ten years. His time of
61:04 is overdue for revision.
Among his rivals is Patrick Ivuti. Only his fellow Kenyan Paul Tergat,
who broke the marathon world record here in September 2003, has run
faster than Ivuti over the half-marathon.”But Paul and I haven’t talked
much about the conditions here, though I do know it’s a fast course.”
That applies as much to the half-marathon : Fabian Roncero set the
course record of 59:52 in 2001 and the Spaniard’s performance remains
the European record. If Ivuti is at his best after a slight leg strain,
a time close to his personal best of 59:45 would add further to
Berlin’s reputation for fast times. Tantalisingly the athlete, who has
also twice finished runner-up in the World Cross-Country Championships,
is giving serious thought to a marathon debut in the autumn. Sunday’s
race may well give him a taste for return for the real,-Berlin marathon
on the last Sunday in September.
In the women’s race, the chances of the home favourite Luminita Zaituc
increased after the withdrawl of Kenya’s Joyce Chepchumba. Zaituc won
the German Half-Marathon title on March 13, while Chepchumba, twice a
winner of the Flora London Marathon, has not been forced to withdraw
because of illness or injury. She is currently at odds with the German
tax authorities, living as she does for much of the year in Germany.
Bewag Berlin Half-Marathon press office
Andy Edwards
Mobile 44 (0) 77 88 745 479
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