Boston Marathon : ‘Best-Ever’ Field Could Give City a Run for Its Money

Last year, the Boston Marathon belonged to one man and the clock.

Less than halfway into the 26.2-mile footrace, the marathon became a battle between Australian Rob de Castella and the course record. De Castella prevailed, setting a course record of 2 hours 7 minutes 51 seconds. The second runner, more than four minutes behind, wasn’t even close.

This year’s Boston Marathon, however, promises to be something completely different: a real race.

“This will be the best men’s race ever ,” said Joe Henderson, West Coast editor of Runner’s World magazine, a man not given to hyperbole. “Not only for Boston. Not only in the United States, but the best ever--including the Olympics.”

The 91st running of the Boston Marathon, which will get under way at noon Monday on Main Street in the rural New England town of Hopkinton, will boast the most competitive men’s field in its history--perhaps in all of marathoning history. On a good day, meaning cool, dry weather, it is a lineup that could produce a new world record. The current mark is 2:07:12 set in 1985 by Olympic marathon gold medalist Carlos Lopes of Portugal.

Lopes is about the only top male marathoner in the world not running here this year.

Defending champion De Castella has returned, looking for a second Boston victory. He has run four marathons under 2:09. He knows the Boston course, and his legendary strength makes him a formidable factor on the notorious Newton hills--known collectively as Heartbreak Hill--that come after the 16th mile.

But De Castella will not be the only previous Boston winner running this year. In fact, three other past champions will join him at the starting line, including Japan’s Toshihiko Seko, who won here in 1981 and who last year won both the London and Chicago marathons; four-time winner Bill Rodgers, who was the first American finisher last year in a surprising fourth place and is hoping to make the top 10 this year, and two-time winner Geoff Smith of England, who won at Boston for the first time in 1984, the Olympic year, and repeated his victory the following year in a depleted field with one of the slowest winning times, 2:14:05.

The field also includes Welshman Steve Jones, former world record-holder who came within one tantalizing second of another world record in 1985 when he ran 2:07:13 in America’s Marathon/Chicago. There is also Irishman John Treacy, who has run only one previous marathon, a race that brought him a silver medal in the 1984 Olympic Games. There are Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania, last year ranked No. 1 in the world in the marathon, and Ken Martin, who has won several U.S. marathons, including the 1985 inaugural Pittsburgh race.

Bruce Bickford, the world’s leading 10,000-meter runner in 1985, will be making his marathon debut here, and Ed Eyestone, the top-ranked American road runner last year, ran a low-key marathon in 1984, posting 2:16--but most believe he is capable of a far faster performance.

De Castella, noting the “quality and depth of the field,” called this year’s race “a forerunner to the World Championships and a major championship in its own right.”

“Our own reputations are on the line,” he said. “Ikangaa, Seko and myself haven’t had the opportunity to race together this year. In fact, this will be the first time since (the) LA (Olympic marathon).”

Treacy, asked why he has waited three years to run his second marathon, replied: “It’s like having a baby--there’s a lot of pain involved, so you put it off as long as you can.”

Rodgers predicted an extremely competitive race.

“This year it’s going to be unusually tough,” said Rodgers, who has suffered foot problems in recent weeks and is aiming for a 2:13. “Last year, we were all the same, but there was one great runner--Deke (De Castella). There was a big gap there.

“This year, there will be no gap. It will be highly competitive. My guess is that it will be between Seko and Treacy in the final miles. And, if the weather is perfect, the potential is definitely there for a world record.”

Henderson is betting on Seko.

“He’s the one who tends to be somewhat forgotten in the list,” Henderson said. “But he is battle-hardened. He is the toughest and most experienced of all these runners. He can handle that course--and Boston is a course that gobbles people up.”

Bob Sevene, who coached Joan Benoit to her Olympic marathon gold medal in 1984, described this year’s race as one with a lot of unknowns.

“You’ve got some great rookies--Eyestone and Bickford--and a lot of people showing great fitness coming in, such as Treacy, who just ran 27:59 (for 10 kilometers) at Crescent City, and, of course, the two favorites--Jones and De Castella,” he said.

Sevene, however, does not pick De Castella or Jones this year, because neither has been running as well as last year, he said.

“De Castella came in on a real serious roll last year, but he’s got a lot of marathons under him this year,” Sevene said. “He hasn’t shown the same type of fitness as last year. Same with Steve Jones.”

Sevene agreed that both Seko and Treacy would be factors, and called Martin a sleeper.

“When Treacy heard that De Castella was running this year, he told me: ‘Good. I want them all there,’ ” Sevene said.

Of Martin, Sevene added: “He’s the last American everyone is talking about. He could very well be the first.”

The women’s field, unfortunately, will not have a field comparable to the men’s.

With the withdrawal of Joan Benoit Samuelson, who is expecting her first child in October, the marathon will almost certainly go to Portugal’s Rosa Mota, the bronze medalist in the 1984 Olympic marathon and the third-fastest women marathoner in the world behind Samuelson and world record-holder Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway.

Kristiansen, who set her record, 2:21:06, in the 1985 London race, is expected to run in London again next month.

Samuelson announced several weeks ago that she would compete this year in Boston even though she is pregnant--and then was forced to drop out after she injured herself training.

New Zealander Lorraine Moller, a past Boston winner, is said to be concentrating on the 10,000 meters for the World Championships this summer in Rome, and Norwegian Grete Waitz, the 1983 world champion in the marathon, is expected to return to defend her title. Australian Lisa Martin is also expected to aim for the World Championships marathon.

That leaves Mota, who ran 2:23:29 in the 1985 Chicago race.

“It’s Rosa’s race this time,” said Henderson. “But the unfortunate thing is that she won’t have a chance to prove how great she really is. Rosa is capable of beating any of those women. She was so much overshadowed in Chicago. She’s probably the greatest underrated runner in the world. But there won’t be the competition. The competition will not be there like it is for the men.”

Jose Pedrosa, Mota’s coach and longtime companion, agreed.

“When we first decided to run Boston, we were expecting to have Ingrid, Joan and Lisa Martin--we thought there would be real competition,” he said. “Now our main focus must change a little. We had been planning to really run a race--but now it will be Rosa against the watch.”

With this year’s lineup, it’s hard to believe that just two years ago the Boston Marathon was on the verge of extinction.

At that time, members of the Boston Athletic Assn.--who make the rules and guard the time-honored traditions of the race--had been wrestling with the issue of prize money since 1982, when amateurism in distance running met its official death.

They resisted for three years, as a series of other spring marathons emerged, all offering rich purses and lucrative appearance fees to elite athletes. World-class runners flocked to London, Rotterdam, Pittsburgh and New Jersey--and abandoned Boston.

In 1986, however, the Boston Marathon was taken off the endangered list. The BAA and the John Hancock Insurance Co. announced a sponsorship deal to surpass all sponsorship deals. Hancock agreed not only to back the race but committed to a 10-year contract involving $10 million in prize money and other financial services.

This year, the race will award $347,000 worth of prizes, including $40,000 and a Mercedes-Benz worth $31,000 to each first-place man and woman. Further, a course record will bring an additional $25,000; a world record an additional $50,000.

“Boston has really become established again in peoples’ minds as a quality event--and this year is icing on the cake,” Rodgers said. “I think Boston this year--well, this is it . Boston is back where it should be. Right at the top.”