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Bank of America Chicago Marathon: Men’s Preview

Posted October 10th, 2008 at 2:30 PM by Jared Markowitz

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon will feature an impressive assembly of Kenyan distance talent. Even with stars such as Sammy Wanjiru, Martin Lel, and Robert Cheruiyot recovering from their Olympic build up, Kenya will have 10 men with sub-2:10 credentials in this race. Only one other entrant (Japan’s Arata Fujiwara) has run that fast, so the winner will almost certainly come from Kenya.

Out of this distinguished group, Kenyan Daniel Njenga stands out as a sentimental favorite. Njenga has been in the top 3 in Chicago each of the last 6 years but has never come away with the win. His personal best of 2:06:16 was set on this course back in 2002 and he has run fast here every year since. One of his main challengers should be countryman Emmanuel Mutai, the man who finished right in front of Ryan Hall in London this spring (2:06:15) and won the Amsterdam Marathon last fall. Mutai turns 24 on Sunday so he should have both youth and karma on his side.

Another youngster with the potential to shine is Evans Cheruiyot. Cheruiyot is 26 and has run only one marathon, a 2:09:34 victory in Milan last December. His biggest accomplishments to date have come in the half marathon, a distance he has covered in 59:05 and most recently in 59:24. Those times put him behind only Haile Gebrselassie and Wanjiru on the all-time list, so he clearly has immense potential in the full marathon.

One more runner to watch is Kenya’s William Kipsang, who ran a scorching 2:05:49 to win the Rotterdam Marathon in April. Other Kenyans who should be in the hunt are former 5000m World Champion Richard Limo, 2:06:50 marathoner Moses Arusei, 2004 Boston champ Timothy Cherigat, and former New York runner-up Christopher Cheboiboch. All of these men are capable of running extremely fast and taking the title.

Another variable that could play a role in determining the outcome of Sunday’s race is the weather. Last year’s unseasonable heat (mid-80s Fahrenheit throughout) should not be repeated, but the temperatures are expected to creep into the high 60s which is still a bit warm for marathons. The winner will have to deal with this while taking advantage of the flat, fast course that is a staple of the Chicago experience.

In the end, we expect that Kenyans will once again dominate the Chicago Marathon. With such a large group of runners expected to contend for the title, Sunday’s race should provide both drama and an extremely fast time. The race will begin at 7:55 AM CDT and will be broadcast live on Universalsports.com with live updates on thefinalsprint.com.