There’s a ‘Last Chance Saloon’ for marathon athletes still hoping for an Olympic qualifier. It comes in the form of Sunday’s (April 11) Xiamen Marathon & Tuscany Camp Global Elite Race, to be run on a multi-lap course in Siena in Italy’s Tuscany province.
The Italian race, sponsored by funds raised during the last Xiamen Marathon in China, has become a significant opportunity to qualify for the Japan Olympics, scheduled for later this year, after COVID uncertainties impacted on other planned marathons.
As with most of the world’s significant road races, Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes are likely to hold sway. However, any of a quartet of athletes from Southern Africa have the ability to contend for a share of the top-eight prize money on offer.
The men’s race could prove a shoot-out between two top Africans, Leul Gebresilase of Ethiopia and Kenyan Marius Kipserem, with the former lining up as race favourite. Currently ranked 12th in the world for the marathon, Gebresilase boasts the fastest marathon in the field, having placed second in the 2018 Dubai Marathon in 2:04:02, while his speedy half-marathon best of 59:18, set in Valencia in 2017, is bound to intimidate his rivals.
Kipserem, 32, loves racing in Europe and his win in the 2019 Rotterdam Marathon in 2:04:11 showed what he is capable of. He placed 10th in last year’s elites-only-field at the London Marathon, clocking 2:09:25 in challenging conditions.
25-year old Ethiopian, Kuftu Dadiso, starts in pole position in the women’s race, boasting the fastest marathon in the field. She raced to her best of 2:23:14 in Lubljana in Slovenia 18 months back on the back of sub-2:25 marathon wins in Lisbon and Barcelona the previous year.
But Dadiso will have to be on her guard against athletes with faster half marathon times, with fellow Ethiopian, Rahma Tusa, aiming to better her 2:23:46 she clocked in winning the Rome Marathon in 2018. And although Kenyan Angela Tanui’s 2:25:18 is slower than the times of her Ethiopian rivals, her 1:07:16 half marathon is the quickest the field.
The race has strong links to the Cape Town Marathon, with two former champions of Africa’s only gold-label marathon, 33-year old Kenyan, Edwin Koech Kibet, and 24-year old Cape Town athlete, Annie Bothma, slated to be in action in Tuscany.
Koech won the Cape Town Marathon in 2019 in 2:09:20 after a close battle with pacer-turned-racer Daniel Muteti, also from Kenya, who finished just 5 seconds in arrears. Koech’s time in Cape Town was a minute slower than his best of 2:08:17, set in Eindhoven in Holland in 2015.
Bothma is a double winner at Cape Town, having won in 2019 in her debut and again a year late in the elite field marathon staged last October, where she raced to her best time of 2:33:35. Bothma will be eager to beat the 2 hr 30 min barrier following her recent training at a Kenyan high-altitude camp.
South Africa’s Gerda Steyn has enjoyed considerable success in distances between 5000m and the Comrades Marathon but is primarily focused on the marathon during the Olympic year. Her 32:24 best in the 10K and her London Marathon 2:26:51 last year suggest Colleen de Reuck’s 25-year-old South African marathon record of 2:26:35 could well be beaten this weekend.
Steyn’s days of enjoying a low profile in top international marathons are clearly over, with the reigning Comrades and Two Oceans Marathon champion billed by the race promoters alongside Kipserum, Gebresilase, Tanui and veteran Italian marathoner, Valeria Straneo.
“I’m delighted and excited to be here,” said Steyn. “It’s pretty cold outside, but the predication for Sunday is between 8 and 15 degrees, which is perfect. There is some rain predicted, but we are all hoping it’s just a light drizzle at worst.
“It’s a strong field – there are quite a few women with marathon times in the low 2:20s and 18 men faster than 2:08 so there is no doubt about the importance of the race. Although the Olympics is my main focus for the year, Sunday’s race is much more than a training run. It’s an important race for me in its own right and I’m aiming to be at my best.”
Although the historic centre of Siena has been declared a UNESCO Heritage and is one of Italy’s prime tourist attractions, Steyn has had little time or opportunity to sample its cuisine, art, museums and medieval cityscape. “We are all booked into the race hotel within a COVID bio-bubble, and although not quite as strict as was the case in London last year, being a tourist is not really possible on this occasion!”
There will be pacers aplenty in both the men’s and women’s competition on Sunday with the respective Olympic qualification times of 2:11:30 and 2:29:30 key targets as marathon hopefuls from countries around the world descend on Siena for a final opportunity to land a ticket to Japan.
Apart from Steyn (already qualified) and Bothma, two other Southern African athletes will be chasing fast marathon PB’s, hoping for a late call-up to their respective Olympic squads. Pretoria-based Irvette van Zyl is looking to erase the memory of her ‘DNF’ at the 2012 London Olympics and will be out to better her best time of 2:31:26, set at the London Marathon the following year.
Zimbabwean athlete, Fortunate Chidzivo, a member of the Retail Langa club in Cape Town, has earned a bagful of road titles and records over shorter distances and will be aiming for a considerable improvement on her marathon best of 2:41:54, set in the Cape Town Marathon in 2016.
“Fortunate has been training in Zimbabwe and was aiming for a race at the end of May,” her coach, Chris Bruwer explained. “We heard about three weeks ago that she had been entered for Siena. Being six weeks from end of May, we decided to use it as a preparation run.
“I envisage a low 2h30 might be possible, but if weather conditions are perfect she has an outside chance of qualifying (for the Olympics). With a 70:50 21.1km (Chidvizo’s 21km PB), a properly prepared runner could run 2h28. But our aim here is more about building confidence over 42.2km again.”
The race will be live-streamed from the race Facebook site on https://www.facebook.com/tuscanytraining/ from 07h30 (CET) on Sunday.
Story by Stephen Granger
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