Marathon News - Spring Marathon Season Comes to Close in Prague on Sunday

May-9-2008

Spring Marathon Season Comes to Close in Prague on Sunday
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

The traditional spring marathon season comes to a close this Sunday in Prague with the 14th annual Volkswagen Prague International Marathon in the Czech capital. Runners from 73 countries are expected to start the race, organizers reported today, including elite athletes from 20 nations. More than 5,000 runners will take part in the full marathon with an additional 7,000 in companion events, including an in-line skate.

At the front of the race, men from Kenya are the strongest athletes. David Makori Omiti, who has a personal best time of 2:08:49 from Venice in 2002, leads the field. Benjamin Pseret, who won the Treviso Marathon last year in a personal best 2:10:18, is also competing along with Kenneth Mungara, who ran 2:17:38 at high altitude in Nairobi in 2006.

Czech Pavel Novak (2:18:48) is hoping to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and will do so if he runs 2:15:00 or better. "For me, qualifying for the Olympics would be a dream, a great personal achievement," Novak told race organizers at today's press conference.

Two-time Prague champion Alina Ivanova leads the women's field with a 2:25:34 personal best. She is also hoping for Olympic team qualification, but she will have to run faster than one of the top-3 Russians in 2008 (Galina Bogomalova, 2:22:53; Irina Timofeyeva, 2:24:14; Svetlana Zakharova, 2:24:39) in order to secure a team berth. Also hoping for Olympic qualification is Brazilian Sirlene de Pinho (2:35:45 PB). Other contenders for the Prague title include 2006 Russian marathon champion Nailya Yulamanova (2:30:54 PB) and Kenyan Caroline Kwambai (2:28:47 PB).