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 RESOURCES FOR RACE DIRECTORS |
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Defending
champ Korir faces tough field in 2010 Honda LA Marathon
Elite field looking for fast times on new
Stadium to the Sea course
on March 21
LOS ANGELES – March 15, 2010 – When Wesley Korir
lined up at the start of the Los Angeles Marathon last
year, the idea of winning the race, setting a new race
record and winning $188,705 in cash and prizes wasn’t
even a dream. He was just hoping to run a strong race.
But two hours, eight minutes and 24 seconds later,
he’d achieved all three and now looks forward to
defending his title in Sunday’s 2010 Honda LA Marathon
presented by K-Swiss.
“When I get in a race now, people say ‘That’s
Wesley, he won in L.A. last year,’ said Korir, who
lives in Louisville, Kentucky. “ That is definitely my
identity now: the L.A. man. And I love L.A., I love this
city. I love what it has meant to me. I love to be
associated with L.A. I love that identity, to be known
as the ‘L.A. man.’”
Korir will face a determined field in the men’s elite
race, including the fastest marathoner ever to compete
in this race: Kenya’s Richard Limo, who has run
2:06:45, plus last year’s runner-up, Tariku Jufar of
Ethiopia (lifetime best of 2:08:10) and third-placer
Laban Kipkemboi of Kenya (2:08:38).
Korir, Jufar and Kipkemboi ran a stirring race for 22
miles last year, with Kipkemboi dropping back first, and
Korir finally establishing dominance at the 24-mile mark
to win by one minute eight seconds.
The men’s field is one of the deepest ever to run in
Los Angeles: seven men with lifetime bests under 2:10:00
and six more at 2:12:00 or faster. Kenyan men have won
this race 11 straight times.
Korir has studied the new Stadium to the Sea course,
especially the undulations of the first six miles of the
route, going downhill from the start at Dodger Stadium
into Downtown Los Angeles in the first three miles and
then up 1st Street into Echo Park in the second three.
“This is going to be a very fast course,” Korir
noted. “2:07, or 2:06, I won’t be surprised. The
thing about it, if you can overcome these 3-4 miles in
the beginning and if you can get yourself [into
Hollywood] strong, all the rest is a piece of cake.
People are going to be rolling.”
In the women’s elite field, Russian women have won
five consecutive Los Angeles Marathons and 2009
third-place Silvia Skvortsova (best of 2:26:24) is one
of two Russians in the field. She placed third in last
year’s race. The fastest time among women entrants
belongs to Ethiopia’s Ashu Kasim, who ran 2:25:49 last
year in Paris, ten seconds faster than last year’s
winning time in L.A.
Looking for a new lifetime best is American marathoner
Paige Higgins of Flagstaff, Arizona, who has run 2:33:06
and competed for the United States in the IAAF World
Championships marathon in Berlin last year.
“This is the ‘go for it’ year,” she told Runner’s
World Racing News, noting “if the weather’s good
and everything, I think it’s going to be a fast
course.” She is looking to break through the 2:30
barrier, adding “I’m still looking for time . . . I
want to make the jump to the next level, where I’m
competing on the world stage.”
The men’s and women’s races are tied together by the
Marathon’s unique Challenge, which awards a $100,000
prize to the first man or woman runner to cross the
finish line. The women will enjoy a handicap to start
the race, based on an average of the lifetime bests of
the top runners. The Challenge, originated in this race
in 2004, is tied at 3-3 between men and women over its
six-year history. In 2009, Korir ran down women’s
winner Tatiana Petrova in the 25th mile.
A prize purse of up to $400,00 in cash plus two Honda
Insight EX sedans with navigation system (MSRP $23,100
each) will be up for grabs this Sunday. Prize money for
the first five male and female finishers will include
$20,000 for first place, $12,500 for second, $10,000 for
third, $5,000 for fourth and $2,500 for fifth. In
addition to the $100,000 Challenge prize, time bonuses
of up to a cumulative total of $100,000 per gender will
be available for runners finishing in 2:08:15 (men) or
2:27:06 (women) or faster.
Star racers Aaron Gordian of Mexico and Amanda McGrory
headline the wheelchair fields, for which there will be
a separate prize purse of $2,500 for first, $1,000 for
second and $500 for third. Gordian and McGrory both won
in Los Angeles in 2009 and will be chasing the Nan
Harmon Time Bonus Award of $1,000 for a wheelchair race
record.
The 2010 Honda LA Marathon presented by K-Swiss will be
the first run on the iconic Stadium to the Sea course
that begins at Dodger Stadium, winds through Downtown
Los Angeles, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills,
then through the Veterans Administration Greater Los
Angeles Healthcare Center and into Santa Monica,
finishing on Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard.
The race will start with the wheelchair fields at 6:55
a.m., followed by the women’s elite field at
approximately 7:03 a.m. and the men (and the rest of the
field) at about 7:20 a.m.
The race will be broadcast in its entirety on KTLA 5 in
Los Angeles and seen nationally on Universal Sports
beginning at 7 a.m. PDT. It will be covered from start
to finish on radio by AM 570 KLAC. All three outlets
will stream their coverage on the Internet as well.
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