RUNNING BOSTON MARATHON : Even Without Chance for Record, the Best Assemble to Honor Tradition

Last January, the venerable Boston Marathon was dealt its hardest blow--which is saying a lot for a race that has been run through the Great Depression, two world wars, the turbulent ‘60s, the running boom, the death of the running boom and whatever current fad exists.

The blow was struck at the annual convention for The Athletics Congress, the governing body for track and field. In an attempt to achieve uniformity in road racing--in which world records are not recognized, in part, because courses vary--TAC approved a rule that outlined specific requirements a marathon course must adhere to to be certified for record purposes. With the rule change, Boston was no longer eligible.

The course ran afoul of two portions of the rule: there may not be a decrease in elevation greater than one meter per kilometer (a net downhill course), and the start and finish of the race must be closer than 30% of the total race distance. Boston is a point-to-point race, from suburban Hopkinton to downtown.

The rules change caused an uproar nationally and abroad and affected many big races other than Boston. The lasting effect on this race, to be run for the 94th time today, has yet to be measured. Certainly, elite runners capable of breaking the world record would have to give some thought to running here.

Yet, as in the past, the best runners in the world have assembled, showing perhaps that tradition has its place in the often cynical world of international sport. For officials here, running well has been the best revenge.

“I don’t care, I want to run here,” said Rosa Mota of Portugal, the Olympic champion and a two-time winner at Boston.

That sentiment must be pervasive. Although Boston competes with other spring marathons--London, Rotterdam, Pittsburgh--the race has the 1988 Olympic marathon men’s and women’s champion, the No. 2 and No. 3 women in the world, the No. 1 man, the World Cup champion, the course record-holder, a former world record-holder and a handful of runners who see the race as a possible breaking-out point for them. The men and women compete for a share of the $350,000 prize money.

The men’s race has the depth to make it competitive and fast. Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania, considered the most consistent marathoner in the ‘80s, is the No. 1-ranked man in the world. Ikangaa has run a marathon faster than 2 hours 10 minutes nine times, with races dating back to 1982. He had been famous for his two second-place finishes here in 1988 and 1989. His race with Ibrahim Hussein in 1988 was Boston’s closet. Hussein won by one second.

Last November in New York Ikangaa bolted from what some considered to be the deepest field ever assembled to win in a personal best 2:08:01.

Challenging Ikangaa is Hussein, who ran a speedy 13:40 in the Carlsbad 5K on March 25. “It’s very fast for me,” he said. “I am in very good shape. I’ve been training for Boston, specifically, since October.”

Hussein ran an unscheduled marathon in the Commomwealth Games in January. He said he wasn’t notified by the Kenyan federation that he was to compete, so he assumed he wasn’t going to run. “We have so many good guys, I thought they had someone else,” he said. Three weeks before the competition, he was told he was to run.

Hussein was fifth in 2:13:20.

Olympic champion Gelindo Bordin of Italy has run where and when he pleased since his surprise win in Seoul. Bordin has maintained a whirlwind pace since, as an amiable and outgoing goodwill ambassador for the sport and for himself.

Now, he says, it’s time the party grinds to a halt. “It is good to enjoy, but now it is time to work,” he said. Bordin started his “work” in New York last November, coming from the back of the pack to finish third in 2:09:40.

Others to watch in the men’s field: Zeleke Metafaria of Ethiopia (with a best of 2:10:28), Steve Jones of Wales (2:07:13) and Simon Robert Naali of Tanzania (2:10:38).

The women’s race was boosted by the late entry of Mota, who has, like Bordin, been taking things easy since her victory in Seoul. She was unranked last year in the marathon, but that hardly reflects her ability.

She said this week that she may have settled her long-time differences with the Portugese federation, gaining permission to set her own race schedule. Her battles began when she won the World Championships in 1987. Since then the federation has threatened to suspend her registration, making her ineligible to compete.

But Portugese officials may have underestimated the mettle of Mota, who has said she would change her nationality before she would bow to them.

American Kim Jones’ battles have been more of the internal kind. After winning the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 8 last year, she attempted an astounding back-to-back marathon schedule--she entered the New York Marathon on Nov. 5. Jones went against general notions of rest time and defended her decision by saying she knew her body and didn’t need anyone to tell her what to do.

How right she was. Jones, a mother of two from Spokane, Wash., finished second to Ingrid Kristiansen and ran a personal best of 2:27:54, good enough to get her ranked No. 2 in the world.