Moroccan-American to Defend Chicago Marathon Title
October 11, 1998 - 0:0
NEW YORK Moroccan-born New Yorker Khalid Khannouchi won the Chicago marathon in his debut at the distance last year with a stunning time of two hours, seven minutes and 10 seconds that catapulted him to the ranks of the fastest marathoners ever. On Sunday, he will defend his title in just his second marathon. He has spent the year since his victory working on his speed at shorter distances, and says he is ready.
I've been training hard, says Khannouchi, and I'm praying I will be in good shape the day of the marathon. The 26-year-old, who has applied for U.S. citizenship and currently resides in Ossining, New York, has improved his personal bests over 10 kilometers and 15k this year, and set a 20k world best of 57 minutes, 37 seconds in new haven last month.
I learn from all my races, says Khannouchi, who has medaled in all 13 of the road races he entered during the past year and won 10, including the 10k Peachtree road race in Atlanta in July and the Harvard pilgrim 5k in Rhode Island three weeks ago. Khannouchi had run the 5k race three times before and never won. This race was like a final test and it showed me that I'm quite ready for Chicago, he says.
The extremely fast men's field in Sunday's Lasalle Banks Chicago marathon features 1998 Boston marathon champion Moses Tanui of Kenya who won in a career best of 2:07:34 as well as Boston's third-place finisher Gert Thys of South Africa and 1997 Berlin marathon champion Elijah Lagat of Kenya, both of whom have run under two hours, eight minutes. Kenyans Peter Ndirangu, Philip Chirchir and Patrick Muturi, who finished third through fifth in Chicago last year, also return to the race.
The top Americans in the field are Keith Brantly, who ran the fastest American time for a marathon in 1998, Chicago's 1997 seventh-place finisher Jerry Lawson and Mark Coogan. They're going to have a tough field, says Khannouchi. The weather is one of the factors that can affect the whole race and we're praying for good weather and I hope that it will be like last year.
Khannouchi's victory last year in cool, calm weather was the fastest debut marathon ever and just 20 seconds off the world record at the time, Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo's 1988 mark. I ran the race of my life, recalls Khannouchi, who says he was later urged by Chicago Bulls megastar Michael Jordan to shoot for the world best, a mark that has since been lowered by Brazilian Ronaldo da Costa's 2:06:05 Berlin marathon victory last month.
I'm not thinking about the world best, says Khannouchi, whose strong kick in the final miles last year earned him the record for Chicago's fast, flat course. I'm just going to go there and try and defend my title. (Reuter)
I've been training hard, says Khannouchi, and I'm praying I will be in good shape the day of the marathon. The 26-year-old, who has applied for U.S. citizenship and currently resides in Ossining, New York, has improved his personal bests over 10 kilometers and 15k this year, and set a 20k world best of 57 minutes, 37 seconds in new haven last month.
I learn from all my races, says Khannouchi, who has medaled in all 13 of the road races he entered during the past year and won 10, including the 10k Peachtree road race in Atlanta in July and the Harvard pilgrim 5k in Rhode Island three weeks ago. Khannouchi had run the 5k race three times before and never won. This race was like a final test and it showed me that I'm quite ready for Chicago, he says.
The extremely fast men's field in Sunday's Lasalle Banks Chicago marathon features 1998 Boston marathon champion Moses Tanui of Kenya who won in a career best of 2:07:34 as well as Boston's third-place finisher Gert Thys of South Africa and 1997 Berlin marathon champion Elijah Lagat of Kenya, both of whom have run under two hours, eight minutes. Kenyans Peter Ndirangu, Philip Chirchir and Patrick Muturi, who finished third through fifth in Chicago last year, also return to the race.
The top Americans in the field are Keith Brantly, who ran the fastest American time for a marathon in 1998, Chicago's 1997 seventh-place finisher Jerry Lawson and Mark Coogan. They're going to have a tough field, says Khannouchi. The weather is one of the factors that can affect the whole race and we're praying for good weather and I hope that it will be like last year.
Khannouchi's victory last year in cool, calm weather was the fastest debut marathon ever and just 20 seconds off the world record at the time, Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo's 1988 mark. I ran the race of my life, recalls Khannouchi, who says he was later urged by Chicago Bulls megastar Michael Jordan to shoot for the world best, a mark that has since been lowered by Brazilian Ronaldo da Costa's 2:06:05 Berlin marathon victory last month.
I'm not thinking about the world best, says Khannouchi, whose strong kick in the final miles last year earned him the record for Chicago's fast, flat course. I'm just going to go there and try and defend my title. (Reuter)