Previews14 Apr 2005


Helsinki ticket duel and record threat - Turin Marathon PREVIEW

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Danilo Goffi at the 2003 Milano Marathon (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)

Turin, ItalyAn Italian duel to secure a team berth for this summer's World Championships in Helsinki highlights a generally wide-open men's race in which about ten serious contenders are in the hunt for victory at the 15th edition of the Turin Marathon on Sunday 17 April.

In the women’s race there will be an attempt to break the course record of 2:27:04 set by Jane Salumae from Estonia in 1997.

MEN - A battle for Helsinki berth

1998 European Marathon silver medallist Danilo Goffi from Nerviano (near Milan), who is now coached by Lucio Gigliotti, is in pole position to clinch a berth in the Italian squad for this summer’s IAAF World Championships after his positive comeback at last autumn's Venice Marathon where he finished second in 2:09:55, just one second slower than the winner, Kenyan Raymond Kipkoech.

A good result in Turin may secure the Carabinieri Bologna runner a spot in the Italian team together with the 2004 Olympic champion Stefano Baldini - who will line up in the London Marathon on the same day as Turin - and Alberico Di Cecco, the winner at the recent Rome Marathon in 2:08:02 (third on the italian all-time list).

Other strong candidates contesting the team place are Ottavio Andriani (fourth in Rome in 2:10:12), Ruggero Pertile (2:11:13 in Lake Birwa 2005) and perhaps Francesco Bennici, a 33-year-old athlete from Mazzarino (Sicily), who will compete over the marathon distance for the first time in his career. Bennici, who took the 5000m bronze at the World Juniors 1990, is a great italian long distance running talent who has yet to truely fulfill his potential. Bennici's personal bests are 27:56 in the 10,000 metres and 1:02:28 in the Half Marathon.
 
There will be a good Kenyan challange. The most notable name is David Makori who won over the challenging Venice marathon course in 2002 in 2:08:49. He finished seventh in the 2003 New York Marathon in 2:13:20 and more recently was second in the Prato Half Marathon in 1:02:18 in 2005 behind the Milan Marathon winner Daniel Cheribo.

The Kenyans Steven Rerimoi (PB 1:01:54 in the Half Marathon) and Julius Rotich (1:01:27 also for the Half) and Martin Toroitich from Uganda are not well known athletes but may follow in the path of other 'unknowns' in Turin who have sprung to success. Ethiopia’s Simeteru Alemayehu won in 2000 and repeated this feat one year later when he set the course record of 2:07:45, which still stands as the men's all-comers record in Italy. In the 2001 edition Alemayehu beat Stefano Baldini, who was using Turin as a comeback race after a troubled 2000 Olympic season.

WOMEN - Course record attack

The fast Turin course may produce good results in the women's race which features a clash between Kenya's Beatrice Omwanza and Rita Jeptoo in the attempt to break the 2:27 barrier.

Omwanza starts with the best time among the entries. She ran 2:27:19 when she finished fourth over the super fast Berlin course last September. She clinched the most prestigious win of her career in Paris in April 2003 when she crossed the finish-line in 2:27:44. Her more recent win was in the half marathon in Paderborn (Germany) in 1:11:32. She was also third in 1:11:18 at the Berlin Half Marathon on 3 April.

Rita Jeptoo, who is coached by Turin coach Renato Canova and runs for the Cover Mapei Verbania, will pursue her third consecutive victory of her short marathon career after her first places in 2004 in Stockolm (2:35:14) and Milan in 2:28:11 (her PB). Jeptoo has also won the prestigious Campaccio cross country race in 2005.

The Russian Alevtina Biktimirova (PB 2:32:33 set in the Ottawa International Marathon) and the Italian Marcella Mancini (second at the Roma-Ostia 2005 and at the 2004 Florence Marathon) will complete the women's elite line-up.

The course starts in Corso Massimo D'Azeglio and finishes in the fascinating Parco del Valentino in the heart of Turin after crossing the neighbouring towns.
 
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

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