PRESS

2004 Olympic Silver Medalists to Race in Falmouth

2006 Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi of California celebrates his great run. He will be among the favorites at this year's CIGNA Falmouth Road Race. Photo by Victah Sailer.

FALMOUTH, Mass. – 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalists Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya are scheduled to run next month’s 35th CIGNA Falmouth Road Race. (For high-resolution photos write falmouthrr@aol.com or call Rich Sherman, 508-737-7872).

The race will held at 10 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 12. The scenic waterfront seven-mile course winds from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights. A field of 10,000 will run and prize money totaling $90,300 will be paid to the top international and U.S. finishers.

Keflezighi will be challenged by Khalid Khannouchi, former two-time Falmouth champion and American record holder in the marathon, as well as last year’s top two U.S. finishers, Edwardo Torres of Boulder, Colo., and Peter Gilmore of San Mateo, Calif. Also running will be Kenyan Olympian Tom Nyariki, runner-up in 2006, and Nicholas Kamakya of Kenya, winner of this month’s Utica Boilermaker 15k. Kamakya was third at the Peachtree 10k on July 4.

Nderaba, two-time Falmouth winner, headlines a women’s field that will include Edna Kiplagat of Kenya, third last year, Romanian Luminita Talpos, who was fourth, and Victoria Jackson of Tempe, Ariz., seventh last year.

Keflezighi will be making his debut in Falmouth, but he has plenty of international experience. Born in Eritrea in East Africa, he moved with his family to California when he was 12. He became a U.S. citizen in 1998 and starred for four years at UCLA. His impressive credentials include the silver medal in the marathon at the Athens Games, when he became the first American man to win an Olympic medal in the event since Frank Shorter’s silver in Montreal in 1976. Keflezighi has finished second and third in the New York City Marathon and was third in the 2006 Boston Marathon. He holds the American record at 10,000 meters and has won numerous national titles at 10k and 15k.

A victory by Keflezighi would also mark the first for a U.S. man since Mark Curp of Missouri in 1988. With the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials scheduled for November in New York, Keflezighi and Khannouchi will be looking for a fast Falmouth finish to be a springboard to their fall training. Both have their eyes on representing the U.S. at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

2004 Olympic silver medalist Catherine Ndereba of Kenya will be seeking her fourth Falmouth victory. Photo by Clay Shaw

Khannouchi is one of the all-time greats in the marathon, having won at Chicago four times and London in 2002 with a then-world best of 2:05:38. He has run three sub-2:06 marathons. In addition to his two Falmouth victories, Khannouchi was second in 1999 and third in 2000 and 2002.

In recognition of its 35th running, this year’s race will also include the first Falmouth champions from 1973, David Duba of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and Jenny (Taylor) Tuthill of Alexandria, N.H. In addition, four former champions who helped stamp Falmouth as a showcase race will again be running: six-time champion and 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson; three-time champion and Hall of Famer Bill Rodgers; two-time champion and 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter; and Falmouth’s first non-U.S. winner, Olympic medalist and New York Marathon champion Rod Dixon of New Zealand.

Defending wheelchair champion Patrick Doak of Concord, Mass., will be back in Falmouth this year, and will face strong challenges from four-time champion Tony Nogueria and two-time winner Kamel Ayeri. Past champions April Coughlin and Jessica Galli will battle for the women’s wheelchair crown.

--30--