Credit Union Cherry Blossom: Catherine Ndereba Seeks First Title; John Korir Goes for Fourth Win
Posted Tuesday, 1 April, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC – Few women have compiled as impressive a road running resume as Kenyan Catherine Ndereba. Simply known as “Catherine the Great,” the 35-year-old Kenyan athlete owns an Olympic silver medal from the 2004 Athens Games marathon, two world marathon titles, and 4 Boston Marathon wins. She once held the world record in the marathon (2:18:47) and still ranks as the #2 performer of all time. However she has never won the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 mile, placing second to Isabella Ochichi in her only appearance here back in 2004.
Ndereba will wear the mantle of the favorite when she lines up at 7:40 a.m. on Sunday, April 6th for the 36th running of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. The new course starts and finishes on the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC.
[Note: Last year’s winner Teyba Erkesso was detained in Ethiopia by the Ethiopian Federation and had to scratch, according to her agent.]
Ndereba and a cadre of elite female athletes from around the world will lead all 12,000 runners over the redesigned course, by virtue of the fact that the elite women will receive a 10-minute head start over the elite men. This format qualifies the elite women’s competition as a “women’s only” competition.
Lineth Chepkurui of Kenya and fellow Olympic silver medallist Lidia Simon of Romania should offer Ndereba her toughest tests. Chepkurui finished 12th last weekend at the IAAF World Cross Country Meet in Edinburgh, Scotland, generally considered to be the deepest field of distance runners of any single race of the year. Simon, who finished second in the 2000 Olympic Marathon, enjoyed a solid year in 2007, highlighted by an unexpected win at the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY.
Colleen DeReuck returns to the Credit Union Cherry Blossom, where she set the mixed-race world 10-mile record of 51:16 ten years ago. Now age 43 and having given birth to her second child last year, DeReuck is using the event as a final tune-up for the Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon, which will be held in Boston on April 20th. She is the defending Women’s Olympic Trials champion. DeReuck is eyeing the U.S. women’s only record of 55:42 set here two years ago by Turena Johnson Lane. Based on her recent times, DeReuck should seriously challenge the record if the weather cooperates.
Last year John Korir, 32, who has won the race three times, ran his fastest time ever (46:11) in six previous appearances but wound up third. Korir’s three victories came in 2001 (46:12), 2003 (46:56), and 2005 (46:55). One more victory will tie him with Bill Rodgers, who won the race in four consecutive years between 1978 and 1981. Korir will have his hands full with Kenyan countrymen including Sammy Kipketer, who owns a blistering 5000-meter time of 12:52.33 and who finished third at the Crescent City Classic 10K in New Orleans two weeks ago in a quick 27:46; Reuben Chebii, who has one second-place and two third-place finishes here; and Nicholas Manza Kamakya, who finished just a stride behind Korir last year, to name a few.
Leading the American men is 27-year-old Nate Jenkins of Lowell, MA. Jenkins is a 2007 Road Runners Club of America Roads Scholar who burst on to the U.S. scene with a 7th place finish last fall at the U.S. Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon in New York City, and Chris Graff, who was the 2001 USATF 10,000-meter champion, the 2003 USATF 10 mile champion and a RRCA Roads Scholar in 2002 and 2003.
In keeping with the spirit of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the event has a sister race relationship with the Himeji Castle 10 mile held in Himeji, Japan on Japan’s Independence Day, Feb. 11th each year. This year, two elite Japanese runners from the Himeji race, Toyoda Takashi and Souhei Wada, have traveled to Washington, DC to take part in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile..
The elite runners will be racing for a total prize purse of $35,500, the largest ever. With $6,000 checks going to the first place male and female finishers, the event is the only world-class competition in the Washington Metropolitan area each year. “We take great pride in our tradition of bringing the world’s finest athletes to the streets of Washington, DC each year,” said Event Director Phil Stewart. “Washington, DC is a world-class city and it merits a world-class running event.”
In order to ensure a clean sport, the organizers pay the United States Anti-Doping Agency to conduct drug testing of the elite athletes.
Widely known as “The Runner’s Rite of Spring,” the event is hugely popular among the more-gentle running population as well. Registration filled to the 12,000-runner limit in just four hours last December. Runners in this year’s field come from 49 states and 9 foreign countries. Among them will be Bethesda runner Ben Beach, who will be participating in his 36th consecutive Cherry Blossom race. Beach, an editor at The Wilderness Society, is the only runner to have finished every year since the race started in 1973. He will also start his 41st consecutive Boston Marathon on April 21st. Ten-mile entrants span 75 years between 85-year-old Walt Washburn of Vienna, VA and 10-year-old James Blackwood of Annapolis, MD.
Washington, DC politicians entered include DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 3 City Council Member Mary Cheh.
The sponsoring Credit Union Miracle Day, Inc., takes great pride in this year’s contribution, currently at $850,000 and rising, to the Children’s Miracle Network. The funds are raised from over 70 participating Credit Unions, Credit Union partners, and event participants. From the total, approximately $400,000 goes to Washington, DC’s own Children’s Hospital. More than 600 Credit Union members serve as volunteers and over 4,800 entrants are Credit Union members.
Entries for the 10-mile and the 5K Run Walk are closed. Spectators are encouraged to view the event in the vicinity of the Washington Monument Grounds. The staging area is ¼ mile from the Smithsonian Metro stop (Orange and Blue lines). Metro opens at 5 a.m. on race day.
Parents can still sign up their children ages 12-and-under for a free 1K Kids Run at 8:15 a.m. on the Washington Monument Grounds. Kids Run registration opens at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday.
The race will be televised on Comcast Mid-Atlantic SportsNet in a half-hour special at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 12th, with rebroadcasts set for Tuesday, April 15 at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, April 17 at 11:30 a.m. and Sunday, April 27 at 5:30 p.m.
Supporting sponsors include Gatorade Endurance Formula, Saucony, Navy Federal Credit Union, and Metro Run & Walk. The event is part of the Professional Road Running Association (PRRO) Circuit and the 2008 National Cherry Blossom Festival held from March 29 to April 13. This year’s festival celebrates the 96th anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossom trees and the enduring friendship between the citizens of the United States and Japan. The event also serves as the Road Runners Club of America’s National 10 Mile Championship.
For additional information, visit www.cherryblossom.org, send an e-mail to racedirector@cherryblossom.org, or contact the race hotline at 301-320-3350.
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