FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Khalid Khannouchi Leads American Bid at Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
Keflezighi bows out. Kenyan women set to dominate
California's fastest half-marathon
SAN JOSE, Calif., (October 10, 2007) – Former world and current American
record holder in the marathon Khalid Khannouchi has never made and Olympic
team in his historic career. Now, at the age of 35, Khannouchi leads the
American bid at the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon San Jose, Sunday, October
14, 2007, in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men's Marathon
in New York City next month. Without the 2006 women's champion Silvia
Skvortsova in this year's field, Kenyan Edna Kiplagat returns to San Jose
to better her second place finish from a year ago in the event's inaugural
running.
Khannouchi's list of career accomplishments are impressive. He has won the
LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon four times. Twice he has set world records
at the marathon, once in Chicago 1999 (2:05:42), and again in London 2002
(2:05:38) in what many in the running world believe to be the greatest
marathon ever run. Today, he remains the American record holder from his
2002 London performance, but he is now focused on the 2008 Olympics and
earning a spot on the U.S. men's marathon team - a goal that has eluded him
since becoming a citizen in 2000.
Khannouchi gained his U.S. citizenship too late to compete in the 2000
Olympic trials. And in 2004, bothered by injury, he, once again had to
postpone his Olympic dream. An immigrant from Morocco who worked as a
dishwasher in New York before his rise to running fame, Khannouchi
considers a spot on the U.S. Olympic team to be the crowing achievement to
his career as an American athlete.
"This has been my dream and this may be my last chance," said Khannouchi.
"Qualifying and representing United States would be an honor for me."
As a Muslim, Khannouchi has been training through the Ramadan holiday. In
some cases, he has had to begin his training runs at midnight to honor his
religious obligations, some of which include fasting from sun up to sun
down.
"I feel pretty good," said Khannouchi who is running an average of 100 mile
per week. "I'm training really hard and the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
will give me a good indication to see how I will perform in trials."
Alongside Khannouchi will be a strong group of East African competitors led
by Tom Nyariki, 36, and Tanzanian John Yuda, 27, who finished second and
third respectively at last month's prestigious Philadelphia Distance Run
(half-marathon). Both men will need to live up to the dominant performance
laid down by Kenyan Duncan Kibet who won the 2006 Rock 'n' Roll Half
Marathon San Jose in a time of 1 hour, 22 seconds, establishing the race as
California's fastest half-marathon.
Kibet's time on American soil trails only that of running legend Haile
Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who ran 58:55 on Jan. 15, 2006 at the P.F.
Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona, shattering the world half-marathon record,
and Haile's 59:24 from this August's New York City Half Marathon. The world
record has since been lowered to 58:33 by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya.
Kibet's absence at this year's race leaves the door wide open for Yuda, who
has the fastest half-marathon time in the field at 1:00:02. Yuda may be
looking to strike back at Nyariki after finishing third behind him at the
Philadelphia Distance Run.
Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi had to withdraw from the race with a
calf problem. Keflezighi's coach Bob Larson of Team Running USA told the
San Jose Mercury News on Monday, "If he had any problem (at the race),
there wouldn't be enough time to recover for the trials."
Including Khannouchi, the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon San Jose will feature
11 men who have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Qualifiers
include Bay Area residents J.T. Service from San Jose, Steven Moreno from
Oakland and Tom McGlynn from Burlingame. Other California qualifiers
include Carlos Carballo from Cathedral City, Allen Wagner from Crescent
City, Miguel Nuci from Turlock and Brad Poore from Davis. Jason Delaney
from Golden, Colo., Daniel Mackey from Portland, Ore., and Marzuki Stevens
from Detroit, Mich., round out the qualifiers.
A pack of seven Kenyan women are poised to dominate the race on Sunday.
Edna Kiplagat, 27, Magdalene Makunzi, 24, and Anne Jelegat, 38 all finished
in the top five last year in San Jose. However, they struggled against the
consistent and rugged pace set by women's champion Silvia Skvortsova from
Russia.
Kiplagat has been running well as of late. She won the Rock 'n' Roll Half
Marathon Virginia Beach (1:11:14), and two weeks later set a personal best
time of 1:10:11 in her third place finish at the Philadelphia Distance Run.
Japan's Megumi Oshima, 31, holds the second fastest half-marathon time in
the women's race (1:09:59) and has the potential to unhinge the Kenyans'
strategy.
Melissa White, 26, and Jennifer DeRego, 27, lead a group of five American
women entered in Sunday's race. DeRego, from San Luis Obispo, Calif., has
qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women's Marathon to be held in
Boston next April.
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