The Elites - Men
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 | 12:45 PM ET
CBC Sports
Despite its flat, fast course, the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has never seen a runner break two hours, 10 minutes. This year’s competitors have a few reasons for wanting to crack the magic number.
Besides putting Toronto in the company of other top-flight international marathons, the first runner to break 2:10 could have a shot at the $20,000 bonus offered to anyone who beats the Canadian all-comers record of 2:09:55 set by East Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski at the Montreal Olympics 31 years ago.
In order of bib number, here’s a look at the top threats to win in Toronto, and maybe come away with a heavier wallet.
Daniel Rono (1)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 28
- Personal best:
- 2:10:15 (Toronto 2006)
The defending Toronto champion comes into this year’s race as the best bet to claim the $20,000 bonus. Rono’s 2006 winning time of 2:10:15 – a personal best – was just 20 seconds shy of the coveted Canadian all-comers record. It also earned the Kenyan a spot on the start line for April’s Paris Marathon, where he survived a wicked opening pace to finish third in 2:10:38.
John Kelai (2)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 30
- Personal best:
- 2:09:09 (2006)
When Kelai toes the start line in Toronto, he’ll have the comfort of knowing he’s the only man in the field to have cracked the prestigious 2:10 mark. The Kenyan accomplished that feat last October in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where he ran 2:09:09 to finish fourth. With wins in Singapore, Brussels and at Mumbai under his belt, Kelai is a threat to take the tape in Toronto.
David Maiyo (3)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 30
- Personal best:
- 2:10:19 (2007)
Maiyo hasn’t seriously threatened 2:10, but he may be peaking after running a personal best 2:10:19 in March at Treviso, Italy.
Simon Wangai (4)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 28
- Personal best:
- 2:10:35 (2006)
On the heels of his personal-best 2:10:35 at the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon, Wangai is enjoying a strong 2007. He won Nashville’s Country Music Marathon in the spring, and then placed a solid seventh in the 10k Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4.
Joseph Mutiso (5)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 34
- Personal best:
- 2:10:34 (2007)
At 34, Mutiso is older than the other top contenders, but he’s far from over-the-hill: the Kenyan is just eight months removed from the personal-best 2:10:34 he ran in Dubai in January.
Henry Kapkyai (6)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 24
- Personal best:
- 2:10:43 (2006)
Among the youngest of the top contenders, Kapkyai, 24, has two titles to his name: the 2004 Krakow Marathon and the 2005 Graz, Austria Marathon. Though he failed to earn a win in 2006, Kapkyai did run a personal-best 2:10:43 at Turin last September.
Simon Njoroge (7)
- Country:
- Kenya
- Age:
- 27
- Personal best:
- 2:11:15 (2007)
A native of Nyahururu, Kenya, Njoroge has a Canadian connection: He has lived and trained in Hamilton, Ont., for the past two years. The move seems to have paid off – he set a course record at Hamilton’s Around the Bay 30k in March, then followed with a solid 2:11:15 in his marathon debut in Ottawa in May. Njoroge is using some of his prize money to build a new house for his family in Nyahururu, and a nice pay day in Toronto could help him finish the job.
Feyisa Tusse (8)
- Country:
- Ethiopia
- Age:
- 24
- Personal best:
- 2:11:39 (2007)
The winner of the 2006 Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tusse used a personal-best 2:11:39 to win at Houston in January.
Kasime Adilo (9)
- Country:
- Ethiopia
- Age:
- 28
- Personal best:
- 2:12:02 (2005)
Adilo ran a 2:12:26 at Frankfurt last fall, but is two years removed from the personal-best 2:12:02 he posted in 2005 in Reims, France.
THE CANADIANS
Ryan Day of Kitimat, B.C., and Jerry Ziak of Vancouver will compete for Canada in the team competition against delegations from the U.S., Mexico and Great Britain. Each country enters two men and two women, with the best three times counted toward the championship.
Day, 25, is a veteran marathoner, while Ziak, 31, will be trying his first full race after gaining experience in the half marathon. Both men are part of the Canadian development program for up-and-coming runners looking to gain top-flight experience.
