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Hancock adds depth to Boston Marathon field

Posted February 24th, 2007 at 10:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

John Hancock Financial Services, whose checkbook powers the elite fields of the Boston Marathon, announced today that several more top athletes had been added to their race scheduled for Monday, April 16.

Defending champion and World Marathon Majors points leader, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya, will have to fend off challenges from several other top Africans, including the surprise champion of the 2005 Boston Marathon, Hailu Negussie of Ethiopia. The 28 year-old Negussie became the first Ethiopian men’s champion at Boston since Abebe Mekonnen in 1989 when he surged away during the mostly downhill 22nd mile, covering it in 4:29 to break away from the rest of the field.

“For day and night I dreamed of winning the Boston Marathon,” he said at the time.

Since his Boston victory, Negussie has struggled to regain his form. He finished 31st at the 2005 IAAF World Championships Marathon in 2:20:25, and dropped out of the ING New York City Marathon less than three months later. He dropped out of Boston the following April, and was a disappointing 8th at the ING New York City Marathon last November in 2:12:12. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic.

“Once again I am eager and happy to run in the Boston Marathon, among the greatest marathons in the world and my favorite place,” Negussie said via a press release.

Two training partners, Stephen “Baba” Kiogora and Benjamin Maiyo, who are coached by Dieter Hogen, will also toe the starting line at Boston, and each has a solid chance at victory. Maiyo, 28, was a major player in the drama at Boston last year who contended bravely for victory before finishing second in 2:08:21. Indeed, it was Maiyo who led the field through halfway in 62:43, well ahead of course record pace.

“I was not feeling that it was fast, but my tactic was to run a course record,” Maiyo said after the race.

Maiyo led into Heartbreak Hill, but exhausted by the fast first half, Cheruiyot was able to pull away from him to get the win and the course record in 2:07:14.

Kiogora, 32, was riding high last November after finishing second at New York in a weirdly tactical race which saw Brazilian Marilson Gomes dos Santos break away from an incredibly strong field which was running timidly. With a personal best of 2:09:21, much slower than Maiyo’s 2:07:09, Kiogora relies more on a tactical approach. He won the Ford Köln Marathon in 2003 and the inaugural New Las Vegas Marathon in 2005.

Two other Kenyan men with fast times to their credit have been added to the field: Robert Cheboror (2:06:23 PB) and Philip Manyim (2:07:41 PB). Cheboror won the ING Amsterdam Marathon in 2004, while Manyim was the Berlin Marathon Champion in 2005.