In This Year’s Race, Time Is of the Essence : L.A. Marathon: Barrios, Kempainen, Plaatjes and Pitayo head field, enticed by cash, that will chase world-class time.

He has been fifth in Boston, third in New York twice, and no one in Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon has run 26.2 miles faster than Arturo Barrios’ 2 hours 8 minutes 28 seconds.

“I have confidence in my training, confidence in myself,” he said. “I think it’s my time to win.”

And, equally important, win in a fast time. At least four men--Barrios, Bob Kempainen, Mark Plaatjes and Mexico’s Martin Pitayo--have run faster than the Los Angeles record, 2:10:19, set by Martin Mondragon of Mexico in 1988, and money is being put on the line to encourage them to do it again.

Although appearance money is being paid those athletes and others, performance bonuses kick in for runners who finish at 2:10 and below. If the race is fast enough, more than $500,000 will be paid to contracted runners, plus a $15,000 first-place prize and a luxury automobile.

Women, led by 1993 winner Lyubov Klochko of Ukraine, Nadia Prasad of France, Kirsi Rauta of Finland, Anna Rybicka of Poland and Irina Bogacheva of Kirghistan, will race for the prize money and the car.

In only its 10th running, the L.A. Marathon is trying to buy stature in the international marathon community.

“A sub-2:10 is possible,” said Paul Pilkington, last year’s winner as the race’s pacesetter, the rabbit, who decided to finish the event when the rest of the field stayed behind. He ran 2:12:13 and is back, again as the rabbit, but with a clause in his contract that rewards him mightily if he can win two years in a row. “A 2:08, I don’t know on this course. The hills at six, seven, eight miles, up through nine, 10, 11 might not make it possible.”

Nonsense, said Plaatjes, the 1991 winner, reigning world champion and holder of a 2:08:58 personal best. “For years nobody thought Boston could be run in 2:08, and look what happened.”

Last year, Cosmas N’Deti of Kenya won in perfect conditions--temperatures in the 50s and a prevailing tail wind--in 2:07:15.

“The main goal for everyone running in L.A. is to run under 2:10,” Plaatjes said. “If the weather is good, if we have between 60 and 65 degrees on race morning, it’s all systems go. It’s the 10th anniversary, and we’d like to see a fast time. I’d like to see L.A. get up there with New York and Boston. . . . It’s what I’ve always thought L.A. lacked, the top end.”

Kempainen, who holds the American record, 2:08:47, set while finishing seventh last year in Boston, isn’t as concerned with the international stature of the Los Angeles Marathon.

“In terms of time, I’m kind of putting that on hold because of the weather,” he said. “But if it’s a cool day, I’d like to be under 2:11 as a goal. I’d like to win. I’m just trying to set myself up to do that. For my sense of it, there’s nobody in the field that’s that much head and shoulders better than anyone else . . . . that they would know that if they were on that day they would crush. It always comes down to how they feel that day.”

Plaatjes talked Bill Burke, the race’s president and part-owner, into putting up enough money to attract an elite field that can push itself.

“You have to have a lead pack pushing themselves to get a fast time,” Plaatjes said. “I won by 41 seconds. That’s the history of this race, one guy breaking from the field.”

Not this year, if all goes as planned in Sunday’s meeting of elite runners, who will tell Pilkington what they need for a pace.

“I just want to run the first half in 1:05,” said Barrios, a Mexican native and an American citizen since 1993. “Then we’ll see how the second half shapes up. What I do know is that I like L.A., and I know that I’ll have a large Hispanic population cheering for me. That will help me.”

For Pilkington, Plaatjes, Barrios and Kempainen, the L.A. Marathon begins a yearlong trek to the Olympics. Their sights are set on the U.S. trials, in Charlotte, N.C., next February, and L.A. is part of their training.

Kempainen will run no other marathons before then. Pilkington and Plaatjes want to run in the World Championships in Sweden in August. Barrios simply wants to win a marathon after huge success as a 10,000-meter runner.

“Breaking 2:10 in L.A. is important,” Barrios said. “Obviously, I want to go 2:10 so people will learn that it can be a fast race.

“I haven’t seen the course. I don’t want to until the race. But I know I’m ready, and I know I’m confident.”

Perhaps confident enough to be a winner.