Khannouchi set to lead Meb-less American bid at
Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon
Posted October 10th, 2007 at 6:23 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Former world and current American record holder in the marathon Khalid Khannouchi has never made an Olympic team in his historic career. Now, at the age of 35, Khannouchi leads the American bid at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon San Jose, Sunday, October 14, 2007, in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon in New York City next month.
Without the 2006 women’s champion Silvia Skvortsova in this year’s field, Kenyan Edna Kiplagat returns to San Jose to better her second place finish from a year ago in the event’s inaugural running.
Khannouchi’s list of career accomplishments are impressive. He has won the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon four times. Twice he has set world records at the marathon, once in Chicago 1999 (2:05:42), and again in London 2002 (2:05:38) in what many in the running world believe to be the greatest marathon ever run.
Today, he remains the American record holder from his 2002 London performance, but he is now focused on the 2008 Olympics and earning a spot on the U.S. men’s marathon team - a goal that has eluded him since becoming a citizen in 2000.
Khannouchi gained his U.S. citizenship too late to compete in the 2000 Olympic trials. And in 2004, bothered by injury, he, once again had to postpone his Olympic dream. An immigrant from Morocco who worked as a dishwasher in New York before his rise to running fame, Khannouchi considers a spot on the U.S. Olympic team to be the crowing achievement to his career as an American athlete.
“This has been my dream and this may be my last chance,” said Khannouchi. “Qualifying and representing United States would be an honor for me.”
As a Muslim, Khannouchi has been training through the Ramadan holiday. In some cases, he has had to begin his training runs at midnight to honor his religious obligations, some of which include fasting from sun up to sun down.
“I feel pretty good,” said Khannouchi who is running an average of 100 mile per week. “I’m training really hard and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon will give me a good indication to see how I will perform in trials.”
Alongside Khannouchi will be a strong group of East African competitors led by Tom Nyariki, 36, and Tanzanian John Yuda, 27, who finished second and third respectively at last month’s prestigious Philadelphia Distance Run (half-marathon). Both men will need to live up to the dominant performance laid down by Kenyan Duncan Kibet who won the 2006 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon San Jose in a time of 1 hour, 22 seconds, establishing the race as California’s fastest half-marathon.
Kibet’s time on American soil trails only that of running legend Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who ran 58:55 on Jan. 15, 2006 at the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona, shattering the world half-marathon record, and Haile’s 59:24 from this August’s New York City Half Marathon. The world record has since been lowered to 58:33 by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya.
Kibet’s absence at this year’s race leaves the door wide open for Yuda, who has the fastest half-marathon time in the field at 1:00:02. Yuda may be looking to strike back at Nyariki after finishing third behind him at the Philadelphia Distance Run.
Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi had to withdraw from the race with a calf problem. Keflezighi’s coach Bob Larson of Team Running USA told the San Jose Mercury News on Monday, “If he had any problem (at the race), there wouldn’t be enough time to recover for the trials.”
Including Khannouchi, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon San Jose will feature 11 men who have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Qualifiers include Bay Area residents J.T. Service from San Jose, Steven Moreno from Oakland and Tom McGlynn from Burlingame. Other California qualifiers include Carlos Carballo from Cathedral City, Allen Wagner from Crescent City, Miguel Nuci from Turlock and Brad Poore from Davis. Jason Delaney from Golden, Colo., Daniel Mackey from Portland, Ore., and Marzuki Stevens from Detroit, Mich., round out the qualifiers.
A pack of seven Kenyan women are poised to dominate the race on Sunday. Edna Kiplagat, 27, Magdalene Makunzi, 24, and Anne Jelegat, 38 all finished in the top five last year in San Jose. However, they struggled against the consistent and rugged pace set by women’s champion Silvia Skvortsova from Russia.
Kiplagat has been running well as of late. She won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Virginia Beach (1:11:14), and two weeks later set a personal best time of 1:10:11 in her third place finish at the Philadelphia Distance Run.
Japan’s Megumi Oshima, 31, holds the second fastest half-marathon time in the women’s race (1:09:59) and has the potential to unhinge the Kenyans’ strategy.
Melissa White, 26, and Jennifer DeRego, 27, lead a group of five American women entered in Sunday’s race. DeRego, from San Luis Obispo, Calif., has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon to be held in Boston next April.
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Tags: Anne Jelegat, Bob Larson, Duncan Kibet, edna kiplagat, elite racing, former world marathon record holder, former world record holder, haile gebrselassie, Jennifer DeRego, John Yuda, Khalid Khannouchi, Magdalene Makunzi, Meb Keflezighi, Megumi Oshima, melissa white, ramadan, Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, san jose, Silvia Skvortsova, Steven Moreno, Tom McGlynn, Tom Nyariki, u.s. olympic mens marathon trials
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