Marathon Revisted, by Pat Butcher, note by Larry Eder

athens,
friday, oct 29, 0800gmt

MARATHON
REVISITED

       Jonathan Kipkorir, Athens 2010 favorite, photo by PhotoRun.net.

If
Jonathon Kipkorir, or any of the lesser lights running the Athens Classic
Marathon on Sunday morning needs any tips on how to approach one of the toughest
courses in the world, they don’t have to go very far for
advice.

This
year is the 2500^th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, the little
joust whose re-telling gave rise to the race itself and, in passing may just
have saved democracy for the western world. The Greeks understandably – in need
of some good news in these economically straightened times – have gone to town
on it.

The
cast list (in best alphabetical order) includes Abel Anton of Spain, Italian
Stefano Baldini, Joan Benoit of the USA, Constantina Dita of Romania, Briton Ron
Hill, Rosa Mota of Portugal, and Kathrine Switzer of the US, who between them
won four Olympic, three world, and six European titles in the marathon, as well
as breaching the male bastion in Boston over 40 years ago.

So
if they can’t provide a word of warning on what to do about a course that begins
with a flat 10 kilometres out of the town of Marathon itself, then rises 21k,
before a steady 11k decline into Athens, and the haven of the 1896 Olympic
Stadium, then no one can help the intrepid 12500 who will start at 0900
Sunday.

Mota
and Hill were the first on the scene yesterday (Thursday), the latter winning a
lot of kudos for bringing the official athletes’ bag he was issued here in
Athens when he won his Euro title in1969. Hill described how winning here, after
failing in two Olympic Games unlocked his potential, and he went on to break the
Boston record by three minutes, and win the Commonwealth Games, while setting a
world record of 2.09.28, “without pacemakers, or a timing car, or ever getting a
massage”. And, it should be added, wearing shoes whose sole was so thin it must
have been like running barefoot.

Mota’s
debut at the distance was at the ‘Europeans’ here in 1982, the first
international women’s marathon championship. She competed initially in the 3000
metres, up ’til then the longest championship distance for women. “The furthest
I’d ever run (in training) was 15 kilometres,” she said yesterday. “I just came
to participate, I didn’t expect to win, I didn’t think I was strong enough.

“But
it was the first marathon championship for women, it was in the place of the
first Olympics, with all the history. When I entered that stadium, it was like a
dream. Even when I go now, I get…..,” and she strokes her arm, indicating goose
pimples.

Race
favourite Kipkorir of Kenya listened intently to the two veterans at the press
conference, but even beforehand he was aware of the task in hand. Kipkorir, who
ran 2.07.31 in Paris last year, said, “I heard it’s a tough course. But when I
heard about the history, I asked my manager to send me here for this fantastic
race. The organisers would like us the go for the course record (Baldini’s gold
medal 2.10.55 in 2004), and if the weather is good, then maybe we can go out in
65-66(mins, for halfway). I know I’m favourite, but anyone who can run 2.10 is a
potential winner”.

Cue
colleague Jacob Yator, who ran a personal best 2.09.02 in winning in Enschede,
Netherlands last year. He said, “I think 65 – 65.20 is a good pace for a tough
course. Kipkorir is favourite, but I’m in really good shape”. Add four other
colleagues who are under or just over 2.10, and Paul Lekuraa, who set the race
(as opposed to the course) record of 2.12.42 in 2008, and the 28^th
edition of this revived Athens Classic Marathon could be on the way to matching
the legend which spawned it.

The
Russians, Irina Permitina and Olga Glok would do well to beware of Eri Hayakawa
of Japan in the women’s race. Permitina won bronze in the Euro Champs in 2006,
and Glok won in Prague last year. But if the Oracle in Delphi was still in
business, she might point out that Japanese have won here in the last two years,
and that Hayakawa, in one of her first marathons passed the Russian pair,
Alevtina and Albina Ivanova (no relation) in the final kilometres in Honolulu a
half dozen years ago, to win in 2.31.57, an excellent time in the high humidity
which always prevails in Hawaii.

In
contrast, this is the time of year in Athens when the weather becomes
unpredictable. The streets were awash two nights ago after a thunderstorm, but
the race day forecast is for dry conditions, with temperatures of around 13C at
the start, rising towards a high of 18C.

The
once-in-a-dozen-lifetimes anniversary has quadrupled the marathon field, with
close to 50% of entrants coming from abroad. With the shorter events, there will
be over 20,000 runners finishing in the striking Panathenaiko, the old marble
stadium created on ancient lines for the inaugural modern Olympic Games in
1896.

ends