Americans running Boston & London, by Jim Estes/USATF, note by Larry Eder

U.S. marathoners line up for Boston and London

INDIANAPOLIS – As several
of the top U.S. marathoners are putting the finishing touches on their
preparations for the spring marathon season, one of the most anticipated
races will be the 115th running of the B.A.A. Boston Marathon on Monday
April 18.

The prime U.S. contenders in 2011 are Ryan Hall
(Big Bear Lake, Calif.), who will compete in his first marathon since
leaving his training group and becoming his own coach; and Kara Goucher
(Portland, Ore.), who will run her first marathon since giving birth
last fall. Hall finished third in Boston in 2009, running 2:09:40 and
fourth last year in 2:08:41, while Goucher took third in 2009, running
2:32:25.

In addition to Goucher, the women’s field will see U.S. standouts Desiree Davila
(Rochester Hills, Mich.), who ran 2:26:20 at last fall’s Bank of
America Chicago Marathon, making her the top-ranked U.S. woman in 2010;
and 2008 Olympic marathoner Blake Russell (Pacific Grove, Calif.).

The U.S. women will face a field
that includes the defending champion, Tebya Erkesso of Ethiopia. Last
year, Erkesso held off a late charge from Tatyana Pushkareva of Russia,
who will once again join the field. Additional contenders for the 2011
Boston title include 2008 champion Dire Tune of Ethiopia; Kim Smith, the
New Zealand national record holder at 2:25:21; and 2010 World Half
Marathon champion Florence Kiplagat, who is making her debut at the
marathon distance.

Goucher continues her comeback after having
her first child, son Colton, last fall and has made great fitness
improvements since her first race at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half
Marathon in January. After running 1:14:02 in Phoenix, Goucher took a
shot at the USA Cross Country Championships, where she finished seventh
in the women’s 8 km event. She then returned to the half marathon,
running 1:09:03 in New York on March 20.

Even while Goucher’s fitness is
trending up right now, Davila can’t be overlooked. Her 2:26:20 at
Chicago last year came in hot, less-than-ideal conditions, and she
finished just five seconds behind Goucher at the 2009 World
Championships Marathon in Berlin.

Russell also could factor in. The
only U.S. woman to finish the Olympic Marathon in Beijing, she hasn’t
run a marathon since 2008 having become a mother in April, 2009. But
Russell is going into Boston with similar momentum to Goucher and
Davila, having just run the World Cross Country Championships, where she
finished a respectable 19th in the women’s 8 km, helping score a team
bronze medal for the U.S.

On the men’s side, Hall is the only
U.S. man in the professional field and will be facing a formidable men’s
lineup that features defending champion Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot of
Kenya, who blazed a course record of 2:05:52 last year, as well as 2010
ING New York City Marathon champion Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia and
Geoffrey Mutai, who boasts the fastest marathon in the field at 2:04:55.

Hall has had his share of ups and downs since his
fourth-place at Boston last year (including his recent half marathon in
New York, where he finished a distant 21st) but he is one of six men in
the field to have run under 2:07 and must be considered a contender.
Much has been made of his coaching change and his off-pace finishes in
recent months, and Hall has not run a marathon since last year’s Boston
Marathon. But history has shown that at the Boston Marathon, anything
can happen.

An American marathoner in London

Traditionally one of the fastest
marathons in the world, the 2011 Virgin London Marathon, held on April
17 this year, will once again feature a lightning-fast field that
includes seven men who have run under 2:06 and 13 women who have run
under 2:24.

Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia and Liliya Shobukhova of
Russia will lead the respective men’s and women’s fields as they look to
defend their 2010 titles. Americans will be watching 2008 Olympic
Marathoner Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Oakland, Calif.), the lone U.S. entrant in the professional women’s field.

Like Russell in Boston, Boulet is
coming off a solid performance at the World Cross Country Championships
(18th) and will look to better her personal best of 2:26:22, posted at
last year’s Rotterdam Marathon – which she ran after having finished
20th at the 2010 World Cross Country Championships.

The men’s field will see a trio of
Americans making their debut at the marathon distance, led by 2011 USA
Half Marathon and 15 km champion Mo Trafeh (Duarte, Calif.). Joining Trafeh will be 2010 half marathon and cross country runner-up Patrick Smyth (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Stephan Shay (Oakland, Calif.), a member of the U.S. squad for the 2010 World Half Marathon Championships.

Jason Lehmkuhle (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Michael Aish (Arvada, Colo.) will be in the mix, looking to better their respective personal bests of 2:12:24 and 2:13:21.

Samuelson returns to Boston

It was announced Tuesday that 1984 Olympic Marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) will return to run Boston for the first time since 1993.

At 53 years-old, Samuelson just
missed the “B” qualifying standard of 2:46:00 for the Olympic Trials
Marathon, running an astounding 2:47:50 to set an American 50+ record
last fall at Chicago and still holds four of the top-ten all-time
marathon performances for U.S. women.

Live streaming

The 115th running of the B.A.A. Boston Marathon will be streamed live on Monday April 18, at www.universalsports.com.

U.S. viewers can watch live coverage of the Virgin London Marathon at www.virginlondonmarathon.com/news-and-media/news-and-media/watch-event-live
between 03:55 and 07:00 EST, Sunday April 17. Coverage on demand will
also be available beginning at 09.00 EST.

USA Marathon lists online now

Hall and Davila lead the list of
qualifiers for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, the most
recent list of qualifiers is available at www.usatf.org/events/2012/OlympicTrials-Marathon/entry/index.asp.

An updated list of the top-100 U.S. marathon performances is now available at www.usatf.org/Stats/All-Time-Lists.aspx.