Commerz Bank Frankfurt Marathon this Sunday, by Pat Butcher, note by Larry Eder

STUDENTS OF THE ROAD PREPARE FOR FRANKFURT
TEST

Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang delivered an apt summary of the
quality of the men’s field for Sunday’s Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon when he
likened the last few days of build-up to awaiting an important academic
examination.

“For
me, it’s a great privilege to run with these kinds of guys. When I look at the
times they’ve run, I think with my performances for the half marathon and
shorter road races, they could spur me on to another
level.”

Kipsang admits he learned much from what was nevertheless
a highly creditable marathon debut in Paris in April, finishing third in 2:07:10. The
most important lesson? “I run best with even pace, too much variation makes it
harder.” With an impressive half marathon best of 58:59, the Iten-based athlete
is confident he can take his performance to another
level.

Sharing joint honours as the fastest men in the field
with a personal best of 2:06:41 are the Kenyan Elijah Keitany, who set that time
as runner-up in Amsterdam in 2009 and
Ethiopia’s Tadese Tola. The latter
won the Paris title in a lifetime best in April and has plenty of incentive to
celebrate his 23^rd birthday on Sunday: the winner will collect 15,000
Euros, while breaking the course record of 2:06:14, set by Kenya’s Gilbert Kirwa
last year, will earn a further 75,000 Euros, making this, the 29^th
edition of Germany’s oldest marathon, a rich prize
indeed.

Tadese Tola makes light of any suggestion that he is a
strong favourite, despite being given the number seven to wear by the elite race
co-ordinator Christoph Kopp, a traditional recognition as being an athlete to
watch in Frankfurt.

“In
my country, the number seven doesn’t mean anything in particular. But I think
that as Sunday is my birthday, it may turn out lucky for
me.”

The
leading men’s group are setting their sights on reaching halfway in 1:02:50
which would be a fine base to attack the men’s course record. But if it comes to
a close finish in Frankfurt’s glorious
Festhalle or Festival Hall, Sylvester Teimet has shown he can time a late run to
perfection.

The
Kenyan ran his personal best of 2:06:49 to win the Seoul Marathon in March,
playing cat and mouse – he took the feline role – with last year’s Frankfurt winner Gilbert Kirwa. Teimet waited till 200
metres from the finish before surging to
victory.

“I
would do the same thing here on Sunday, wait and then attack. I’ve heard the
course is fast and if conditions are ideal, I think I could improve my best by
over half a minute, perhaps even break the course record.”

The
Frankfurt organisers have made a point of
boosting the strength in depth of the women’s field this year. Dire Tune of
Ethiopia, champion in Boston in 2008 and deprived
by one second of a repeat victory the following year by Kenya’s Selina
Kosgei, is the fastest with 2:24:40. Only two weeks ago she won a silver medal
at the World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning in China but says Frankfurt has held equal importance in her longterm
plans.

“Our
training has been balanced between the Half Marathon Championships and full
marathon. Running the half marathon should help me run well in Frankfurt.”

Tune
and her fellow Ethiopian Mare Dibaba share the same coach, Hayi Adillo, who
maintains that both have looked equally strong in preparation. That must be
impressive indeed, since Dire Tune has requested a pacemaking schedule of 70:30
or even 70:00 at halfway, a comment which startled the assembled press corps but
which was confirmed upon second asking.

As
with Dire Tune, Mare Dibaba knows that the Ethiopian federation are considering
prospects for their marathon squad at next year’s World Championships in
Daegu, South Korea. As coach Adillo bluntly
commented: “They know that if they run under 2:23 here and no-one later runs
faster, they’ll have a very good chance of being
selected!”

Such
a time would smash to smithereens the course record of 2:25:12, achieved by the
Russian Alevtina Biktimirova five years ago. Last year’s winner, Agnes Kiprop of
Kenya, sounded cautious in response,
rating her own prospects of retaining the title as “Maybe 50-50.”

Kiprop, whose best is 2:26:22 from winning in Turin last year, might
well draw upon a psychological trick or two. Her training group at home in Iten
includes Selina Kosgei, conqueror of Dire Tune by the tightest of margins in the
2009 Boston Marathon. Another member of that group could well spring a surprise
on Sunday: Hilda Kibet, Kenyan-born but a Dutch citizen for the past three
years, has the endurance pedigree, including a European Cross Country title in
2008, to improve greatly on her marathon best of 2:30:33 for third place in
Amsterdam last
year.

ends