Olympians, formers champions set their sights on Falmouth
Course record holder Gilbert Okari, Athens silver medalist Catherine Ndereba head a world-class field

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Posted Tuesday, 8 August, 2006

FALMOUTH, Mass. -- The 34th renewal of the Falmouth Road Race is set for Sunday, Aug. 13, and the field of 10,000 will feature the defending champion and course record holder, a host of former winners and several Olympians and Hall of Famers.

Many of the world's best distance runners and thousands of recreational runners will meet at the drawbridge in Woods Hole at 10 a.m. Sunday for the scenic, seven-mile run to the beach in Falmouth Heights.

The Falmouth Road Race has long been a staple of summertime on Cape Cod and has been recognized and saluted often as one of the premier events in the sport. Most recently Falmouth was honored with a "Best of New England" by Boston Magazine's New England Travel and Life for 2006 in the category "Best Road Race."

Some of the top names in the sport have won Falmouth, including Olympic marathon gold medalists Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit Samuelson. Other former champions have included Olympic medalists Rod Dixon, Grete Waitz and Lorraine Moller and Olympians Bill Rodgers and Alberto Salazar.

The proud history of the race as a "must-run" stop on the national circuit was assured earlier this spring when CIGNA, an employee-benefits company, agreed to be the principal sponsor for the first time.

Falmouth will continue to offer a lucrative prize money package totaling $90,300. First place in the men's and women's open divisions is worth $10,000 and the top U.S. men's and women's finishers will win $5,000 each.

Leading the men's race is two-time winner and defending champion Gilbert Okari of Kenya. He set the course record in 2004 when he blazed to a 31:08 finish. He followed that up with another victory last year in oppressive conditions.

Okari will be looking to become only the third man in the history of the race to claim three victories. "Boston Billy" Rodgers was the first three-time Falmouth champion; he triumphed in the second Falmouth in 1974, and then went back-to-back in 1977-78, when he was the dominant force on the American roads.

Rodgers' hat trick was matched by John Korir of Kenya, who won in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

Korir and Rodgers will both be in Sunday's race, Korir as a front-of-the pack threat and the 58-year-old Hall-of-Famer Rodgers competing as a grand master, along with two-time Falmouth winner Frank Shorter.

Korir is running well this season and has an exceptional record at Falmouth. Besides his three wins, he was third last year and in 2004 and has twice finished second. Last week he was fifth in the Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Okari started the season well with five victories in a row. He was fourth in the Peachtree 10k in Atlanta on July 4 and in his most recent races he was third at the Bix seven-miler July 29 in Davenport, Iowa, and fourth last weekend in the Beach to Beacon.

Also scheduled to compete in the elite men's field is former champion James Koskei of Kenya. He was seventh last year and won Falmouth in 2002.

A newcomer to watch is 19-year-old Lawrence Kiprotich of Kenya, who made a big splash is his U.S. road racing debut when he upstaged a star-studded field in winning the Bix race two weeks ago. Last week he was second at Beach to Beacon.

Mbarak Hussein, a native of Kenya and now a U.S. citizen, returns as the defending Master's champion. The 41-year-old from Albuquerque, N. M., was also the first U.S. finisher in 2005 and an impressive eighth overall. Another U.S. runner to watch is Ryan Shay of East Jordan, Mich., 10th in the open race last year and the second American.

The women's field for Sunday's race is equally impressive, highlighted by the return of Falmouth favorite Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, a three-time winner.

Defending champion Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands will miss the race as she prepares for the European Championships. Kiplagat holds the Falmouth course record at 35:02, set in 2000.

Ndereba, a former world record holder in the marathon and the silver medalist in the marathon at the 2004 Olympics, won Falmouth in 1996, '98 and '99. She was also three times the runner-up (2000-02). She most recently won a half-marathon (72:56) in Bogata, Columbia.

A pair of Russians, who both train out of Germantown, Md., figure to challenge Ndereba.

Alevtina Ivanova was second here last year and won Falmouth in 2004. She is also coming off a strong effort last weekend when she won the Beach to Beacon, running 31:26 to break Ndereba's five-year-old course record.

Olga Romanova also has been running well this season. She was fourth at Falmouth in 2005 and seemingly had the 2003 race won until she collapsed 100 yards from the finish line. The international flavor also includes Miho Ichikawa of Japan, fifth at Falmouth in 2005, and intriguing newcomer Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco. Leghzaoui set world records in 2005 for 10k (30:29) and 8k (24:48) and won several races with course-record times.

U.S. women will be well represented by Olympians Colleen De Reuck, Elva Dryer, Amy Rudolph and Carrie Tollefson. The oft-decorated De Reuck is a Falmouth favorite. She has won the open division twice and finished second four times. Now 42, she has won the Falmouth Master's division twice and last year was seventh overall. De Reuck became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and has represented both her native South Africa and the U.S. in Olympic Games. Dryer was third at Falmouth in 2004 and ran in the 10,000 meters at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She was fifth last week in Maine.

Rudolph, a former Providence College star and two-time Olympian at 5,000 meters, earlier this summer won the 10,000 at U.S. Outdoor Championships.

The versatile Tollefson ran the 1,500 meters at the 2004 Olympics and has won national championships in cross country. Before running Sunday she is scheduled to compete in the Falmouth Mile on Saturday night at Falmouth High School.

Along with Hussein and De Reuck in the masters divisions, New Zealand Olympian Sean Wade is making his Falmouth debut as a 40-year-old. He has already won masters races this summer at Peachtree, Bay to Breakers and the Utica Boilermaker.

The favorite in the wheelchair race is Tony Nogueira of Glen Ridge, N.Y., shooting for his fifth straight win.

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