The Elites - Women
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 | 12:45 PM ET
CBC Sports
If 2:10 divides the best from the rest in the men’s marathon, 2:30 is the magic number for women.
Only 77 female runners met the standard in 2006, with another 41 doing it this year. The lone sub-2:30 in a regular Canadian marathon came in May 2006, when Lioudmila Kortchguina of Thornhill, Ont., posted a winning time of 2:29:41.
The field at this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon will have an eye on that number, as well as on 2:26:01. Romania’s Lidia Simon ran that to win the 2001 IAAF world championship marathon, the fastest ever run on Canadian soil.
As in the men’s race, a $20,000 bonus is up for grabs for anyone who can set a Canadian all-comers women’s record in Toronto. Unlike the men’s race, which is dominated by Kenyan entries, the women’s boasts a decidedly international flavour, with five different countries represented among the top six contenders.
In order of bib number, here are the best bets to claim the women’s event, and perhaps make a run at 2:30.
Malgorzata Sobanska (F1)
- Country:
- Poland
- Age:
- 38
- Personal best:
- 2:26:08 (2001)
The 2006 Toronto champion with a time of 2:34:32, Sabanska will once again be the most decorated runner in the field. Her impressive resume includes a win at London in 1995, a second-place finish in Boston in 2001, and a fourth at the 1995 world championships. The veteran also finished 11th at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and has placed in the top four of the Berlin Marathon three times. At 38, Sobanska is six years removed from her personal-best, but she continues to post strong times like the 2:35:02 she ran at Prague this spring.
Alevtina Biktimirova (F2)
- Country:
- Russia
- Age:
- 25
- Personal best:
- 2:25:12 (2005)
An up-and-coming youngster, Biktimirova placed second at Ottawa in 2004, and nearly cracked 2:25 in Frankfurt in October 2005. She also finished sixth at the 2006 Boston Marathon.
Asha Gigi (F3)
- Country:
- Ethiopia
- Age:
- 34
- Personal best:
- 2:26:05 (2004)
An experienced top-flight marathoner, Gigi placed fourth at Paris in the spring. Her personal best 2:26:05 also came in Paris, in 2004.
Merima Denboba (F4)
- Country:
- Ethiopia
- Age:
- 33
- Personal best:
- 2:32:54 (2007)
A longtime distance-running standout who has represented Ethiopia 11 times at the world cross-country championships, Denboba is now making a go at the marathon. Her first attempt, in the spring of 2005 in Milan, resulted in a disappointing 2:43, but she rebounded to post a 2:32 at Lahore, Pakistan in January of this year before matching the time in Hamburg in April.
Svetlana Pretot (F6)
- Country:
- France
- Age:
- 36
- Personal best:
- 2:32:50 (2007)
A Russian expat now married and living in France, Pretot is coming off a very strong showing at the hot and hilly Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego, where she ran 2:32:50 to take second and shock a field of more experienced African runners.
Claudia Camargo (F7)
- Country:
- Argentina
- Age:
- 36
- Personal best:
- 2:35:04 (2006)
A capable all-around runner who represented her country at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Camargo is among those capable of approaching the magic 2:30 mark. She's also looking to build strength for the Beijing Olympics, where she hopes to run for Argentina in the 5000m or 10,000m.
THE CANADIANS
Lisa Harvey of Calgary and Janelle Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., comprise the Canadian women's squad for the team competition.
Harvey, 37, has represented Canada seven times at the world cross-country championships and at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, where she ran the 10,000m. Harvey placed third in the 10,000 at the 1991 worlds in Tokyo, and was fourth in the same race in Stuttgart two years later.
Morrison, 29, will be running her fourth marathon. In Ottawa last spring, she ran 2:54:24 in an international-class race, improving her time by nine minutes over her previous outing.