Kenyan aims for fourth Boston win
Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot will be aiming for Beijing and the 2008 Olympics as much as for a fourth Boston Marathon victory when he toes the line today.
Cheruiyot, 29, will start as the men’s favourite for the 112th running of the world’s oldest annual marathon in what should be far more benign conditions than the hard rain and cold winds that made his victory last year such a struggle.
Although the tough, hilly Boston course is not known as one of the world’s fastest marathon tracks, the Kenyan will have a close eye on the clock as he bids to secure one of the three places on his country’s team for the Olympic men’s marathon this August in Beijing.
Compatriot Martin Lel threw down the gauntlet last Sunday when he won the London Marathon in a course record two hours, five minutes and 15 seconds.
Cheruiyot knows he can run equally impressively in Boston on Patriot’s Day having set a personal and course record of 2:07.14 in 2006, and the inaugural World Marathon Majors champion is relishing the opportunity to prove it
“Let me do it fast in Boston,” Cheruiyot said at a pre-marathon press conference. “I hope to qualify for the Games, (over) the toughest course in the world.”
Cheruiyot will not be the only Kenyan trying to make a point to team selectors with last year’s runner-up James Kwambai, 2004 Boston champion Timothy Cherigat and Shadrack Kiplagat, who owns the second fastest time in the field at 2:07.53, among the main men’s contenders and vying for the $150,000 U.S. first prize, the largest slice of a record $796,000 prize purse.
The women’s race will also have its reigning champion return to defend her title as Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva does battle with 2006 winner Rita Jeptoo, another Kenyan, and Latvia national record-holder Jelena Prokopcuka, who was the runner-up to both women.
Tags: boston, marathon, start
I have no dog in this fight, but presumably the hypocricy of a closeted homosexual who might be campaigning in part based on their key hetero family connections would be fair game.Or are all homosexuals immune from criticism now?
What would those be? All they have are wine, apples, and desert.
Backbone is good.
They weren’t. Louisiana has a lot of AAs. You’re not familiar with percentages.
So Clinton was the first “Black” President and Obama would be the first “Woman”?
Soon there will be no tricks left for the Clinton Carpet Baggers!We don’t need more of the same. When Bill Clinton was elected President both he and Hillary made healthcare reform a prominent part of the election platform. But, they dropped their efforts soon after getting elected and spent the administrations political capital on NAFTA. The Clintons should realize that they both were a disappointment the first time.
yes, turnout is the under-sung story of these primaries. (not sarcasm)
And hot native brunettes
i live in Louisiana and me and all my friends voted for Obama. Please thanks me.
“Dude, say what you will about the tenets of Islamofascism, at least it’s an ethos.”
There you go
I’m glad to hear it. My wife and I voted and mailed in our ballots and I was pissed off to find out that our votes don’t count.I wonder how many non-activists even knew about the caucuses..
She doesn’t need to with the superdeligates.
you see I would have beleived you didn’t have a problem with gay people until the statement “aren’t gay people the first ones to be all up in your face telling you they’re gay?”. I have heard this sentiment a lot on reddit and can only conclude that you don’t know very personally any real gay people and instead make all your assumptions about a group of people on TV and possibly one or two encounters