Catherina McKiernan, the world's top ranked woman marathon runner, is to have her next and, possibly her last, marathon race before the Olympic Games in Sydney, in Chicago on October 24th.
It was disclosed yesterday that McKiernan has signed up for her first American race over a course which is regarded as one of the fastest in the world for marathon runners.
Five of the top 30 marathon times by men have been recorded in Chicago, a factor which was in large measure responsible for the Irish woman's decision to go there.
"Recent performances by both men and women in Chicago helped convince me that I should go there," she said. "All the indications point to it being one of the fastest, if not the fastest course in the world. I'm looking forward to giving it a good go."
Running in Amsterdam last November, McKiernan came within two minutes of the existing world record and was convinced that she would have broken it, had she not been buffeted by wind and rain. Now, in spite of recent setbacks, she is hopeful of rediscovering that impressive form.
The Chicago race carries a prize fund of $400,000, of which $65,000 goes to the winner. There are bonuses of $100,000 for a world record and $30,000 for a course best, currently credited to Joan Benoit-Samuelsons at 2-22-21.
McKiernan is the first big-name athlete to contract for the November race but is expected that the Kenyan, Joyce Chepchumba, a recent winner of the London marathon, will return to defend the title she won seven months ago.
As yet, McKiernan, who has climbed to the top of the world rankings on the strength of her achievement in winning all three of her marathons so far, has yet to resume training after missing out on the big London race because of tendon trouble in her foot.
Only recently returned from a Continental holiday, she is expected to resume light training within the next fortnight and the hope is that she will be able to undertake serious work by the end of May.
The Dublin mini marathon is her next immediate target and the expectation is that she will run in at least two other big road races before putting her ranking on the line in Chicago.
The XIII Pan American Games, in Winnipeg from July 23rd to August 8th, will feature 5,300 athletes from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean competing in 41 sports.
The Games torch will be lit at a major pre-Hispanic ruin outside Mexico City on June 23rd to begin a month-long, three-country journey to Winnipeg.
The torch tour will begin in Teotihuancan with subsequent celebrations to be staged in Jackson, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, Chicago and several Canadian cities including Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Regina. The venture is being termed a torch tour rather than a run because the flame will be transported by train until it reaches Manitoba. Here bicycles, canoes and runners will come into play.
