Chris Musumba
31 October 2009
Nairobi — James Kwambai is tipped as one of the men to take a generous bite of the Big Apple race; the New York City marathon, which will be celebrating its 40th edition on Sunday.
Despite settling for silver in both Berlin and Rotterdam marathons, Kwambai holds a notable distinction of running the fastest-ever, non-winning marathon time in history.
Kwambai finished second at last year's Berlin Marathon, where Haile Gebrselassie set a new marathon world record of 2:03.59 with Kwambai's time recorded at 2:05:36.
That made him the seventh fastest ever marathon runner at the time. In April, running at Rotterdam Marathon, Kwambai again finished second (behind Duncan Kibet), in a time of 2:04:27, the third fastest ever marathon at the time.
Casual mention
Yet all he got for his efforts was a casual mention. He has the opportunity to change all that on Sunday when he lines up in New York where he faces two other faster runners - Jaouad Gharib (2:05:27) of Morocco and Kenya's Patrick Makau (2:06:14).
There's also defending and two-time champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil (2:08:37), four-time Boston and one-time Chicago champion Ahmed Omar Robert Cheruiyot (2:07:14) and 2004 winner Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa (2:06:55).
Cheruiyot is also seeking a victory to redeem his career. Just over a year ago, Cheruiyot was considered one of the greatest marathoners on the planet, as was in April of 2008, when he captured his fourth Boston title and the third in a row .
However since then, things haven't gone that well for Cheruiyot and he is in New York with a chip of his shoulder. He was forced to pull out of last year's Olympics after a thigh injury before he suffered from stomach complications as he sought a fourth straight Boston title but settled for fifth.
Cheruiyot rebounded in August, as he was a creditable with a fifth place finish at the World Championships in August. Lots of runners have ran a World or Olympic championship in August and then done well in New York in November, but Cheruiyot doesn't have a great track record of winning two marathons in one season.
Both former champions Paul Tergat and Martin Lel have pulled out of the race citing injuries with Russian Tatyana Petrova withdrawing from the women's race because of an illness but the race director Mary Wittenberg said it will not water down the event.
Miss them
"We'll miss them. Athletes of this calibre walk a fine line between being in winning form and being injured or sick. Understanding this, we ensure our fields run deep, and I am pleased our men's field remains one of the best ever."
For Six years, Margaret Okayo New York course record of 2:22:31 has withstood all attacks and on Sunday, World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe and Boston marathon champion Selina Kosgei will make yet another attempt to break the record.
Radcliffe's best time in New York is 2hours 23 minutes and nine seconds while Kosgei makes her debut. Radcliffe said she feels in good enough form to lower the course record of 2:22:31 set by Okayo in 2003.
Kosgei believes that she has the finishing speed to race with anyone in the closing stages of a marathon. "Radcliffe is very fast. I will try to stay with her. If the pace is too hot for me, I will stay back a bit and try to make a run at the end."
The last time the two met was in Beijing Olympics where Kosgei finished tenth while Radcliffe was 23rd.
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