Los Angeles Marathon : Spotlight on Rodgers, Shorter in Masters Race

Some of the biggest names in the 1988 Los Angeles Marathon are from the old days, so race organizers are focusing attention on the masters competition that will pit Bill Rodgers against Frank Shorter for the first time since they turned 40.

Racing against Rodgers and Shorter in the 40-and-over category will be U.S. record-holder Barry Brown of Gainesville, Fla., who ran the Twin Cities Marathon in 1984 in 2 hours 15 minutes 15 seconds.

Among the runners with a chance to win the $25,000 first prize on March 6 and the Mercedes-Benz worth $35,000 are 1986 New York City Marathon winner Gianni Poli, four-time Olympic champion Lasse Viren of Finland and ’83 New York City Marathon winner Rod Dixon of New Zealand.

Dixon was feeling so confident when he talked with Bill Burke, president of the L.A. Marathon, earlier this week that he asked Burke to pass along to the folks at Mercedes the message, “dark blue.”

With the U.S. men’s Olympic marathon trials scheduled for April 24 and the women’s trials scheduled for May 1, the Los Angeles Marathon is expected to be passed up by some Olympic hopefuls. The dates are just too close.

Some of the top competitors will come from countries using the L.A. Marathon as one of the acceptable qualifying meets for the 1988 Olympics. Mexico is using Los Angeles as one of its qualifying runs, which means that Rudolfo Gomez will be competing. New Zealand (led by Dixon) also is using this marathon as an Olympic qualifying meet, as are Argentina, Costa Rica, Ghana, Jamaica, Lesotho, Tanzania, Somalia and Swaziland.

But, still, there are elite runners who have chosen not to compete in the L.A. Marathon, including last year’s winner, Art Boileau, who will run, instead, in London April 17, and the course record-holder, Ric Sayre, who won two years ago. Both Boileau and Sayre wanted to run in Los Angeles but were expecting to be paid more in appearance fees than the L.A. organization was willing to offer, according to Don Paul, who represents both Boileau and Sayre. Paul said that the L.A. Marathon offered only $4,000 for Boileau, which he said was much below the going rate for a returning champion.

Sayre will run in Miami Feb. 20 and also in the Olympic trials.

One of the run’s major sponsors, John Hancock Financial Services, is sponsoring the appearance of Shorter, Rodgers and Poli.

Race organizers announced Thursday morning that the total purse of $392,274 would be increased, possibly, by $50,000. An additional $25,000 bonus will go to the first man who can finish in less than 2 hours 10 minutes, and an additional $25,000 will go to the first woman who finishes in less than 2 hours 30 minutes.

Among the top women will be Patty Catalona, the third-fastest woman in U.S. history, and Mexican national champion Maria Trujillo, who was third in Los Angeles last year.

While some of the stars may be absent, there is no lack of total entries. Burke, pointing out the growth of the L.A. Marathon since the first one was run in 1986, said that this year’s entries have already exceeded 12,000 and are projected to be between 16,000 and 17,000. Entries are sure to exceed last year’s total of 14,937.

KCOP-TV will again televise the marathon live, from start to finish.

Joan Benoit Samuelson, winner of the women’s gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games, will not run, but she will speak Saturday, March 5, as a part of the L.A. Marathon Health and Fitness Exposition, which will be held March 2-5 at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton and Towers. The Expo will feature booths offering health screening and exercise tips.

Secure Horizons, a division of PacifiCare, is sponsoring a 3.1-mile Senior Walk that will begin a half-hour after the marathon on the USC campus. The walk is open to anyone 64 or older.

Rodgers, who has won the Boston Marathon four times and the New York City Marathon four times, said Thursday morning that the prospect of masters racing was “like the start of a whole new career.” He turned 40 on Dec. 23 and has started only one marathon as a master. He dropped out of that one but says that he is determined to race for the master’s title in Los Angeles.

Shorter, who could not make the local press conference because he was preparing to run in the Millrose Games, spoke with Rodgers via amplified phone hookup. He predicted a master’s time for himself and Rodgers of about 2:20.