Something for All : This L.A. Marathon Offers Many Possibilities, and Ikangaa’s Olympic Dreams Are Among Them

He was at the front of the line in Boston, leading an invasion of Africans who have taken over its marathon.

He was also in front in New York, running the marathon there faster than anyone else has ever run it.

He was out front in Tokyo and Fukuoka, Japan, and Beijing, and still he asks himself the same question daily as he prepares to run at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro: “Why do I torture myself to run 26 miles 385 yards this fast?”

How fast?

If Sunday’s $25,000 reward for breaking the Los Angeles Marathon record, 2 hours 10 minutes 19 seconds, had been offered to a field with Juma Ikangaa in it five years ago, Bill Burke, the race’s president, could have written the check. If the $50,000 for breaking 2:10 or the $100,000 for breaking 2:09 had been there for Ikangaa then, it would be money in the bank.

Six times he has run a marathon in 2:09 or less. One of those times was in 1989 in New York, where his 2:08:01 is still the race record. Another was in Boston, where his 2:08:44 in 1988 was one second slower than Ibrahim Hussein in the closest finish in the race’s history.

He is 37 now and a major in the Tanzanian army, instructing soldiers in the art of artillery and taking military courses himself. His manager lives in Alamosa, Colo., and gets his phone messages down the road at a motel. Once the callers offered five-figure appearance fees. Now they offer incentive bonuses.

Ikangaa will line up Sunday with the most impressive resume in the Los Angeles Marathon field, but that is history.

He has not raced in this country since 1992, when he finished fourth at Boston. He has not raced anywhere since 1994, when he was 10th at Fukuoka in 2:16. He trains 100-120 miles a week at Arusha in his native Tanzania, but needs a race for the training to make sense and prefers to know that race a year ahead of time.

He was invited to Los Angeles in February.

Ikangaa needs to run between 2:11 and 2:12 to make Tanzania’s Olympic team for the fourth time.

Los Angeles needs a name in a field that lacks them.

The one it got was that of a man who was one of the top three distance runners in the world in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. He came to Boston in 1987 and ran 11th as the only African in the elite field.

The next year, with Boston’s money on the top of the table for the first time, he was second for the first of three consecutive times. The field included 36 Africans, and an African has won all but one Boston Marathon since.

It has never been him.

“It is my regret,” he said. “It is my big disappointment. I take pride [that so many Africans have come to Boston]. At first, they came to race with Juma, to beat Juma.

“I did what I was asked to do, but why did I not win? I made one mistake that I now know, but I can’t reveal it. I would like to try one more time, but with a year to train.”

One more time. It is like a litany with him. One more Boston. One more Olympics.

He ran sixth in Los Angeles in 1984 and seventh in Seoul in 1988. In 1992, he was 34th in Barcelona, and his career has slid ever since.

He is like the proverbial fire horse, and every four years he hears the Olympic bell. Los Angeles offers the opportunity to try again. It also offers $15,000 and a car to the men’s and women’s winners, plus bonuses.

Ikangaa said the times of 2:11 to 2:12 is more important.

“I have never put money before performance,” he said. “I put performance first. . . . It is important to run in the Olympics because that is part of history, and the most important thing of all is the medal. It doesn’t matter whether it is gold or silver or bronze, but just to win a medal. I have never won one, and I often ask myself ‘Why? How?’ ”

Perhaps it’s his style, leading quickly and for as long as he can, throwing his tiny, slim body against the elements. He often runs as though in a trance, with a clock in his body synchronized with the watch on his wrist. It is his competition.

His only competition, he said.

“I don’t know where the other runners are in the field,” he said. “I only know I race against time. Every runner has to run his own race, because you don’t know how the other runner is trained. If I have trained to run a 2:50 kilometer and you have trained at 3:05, you are going to wear yourself out trying to stay with me. No, I don’t pay attention to the other runners.”

But Rob de Castella disagrees and supports it with a story in Tom Derderian’s book, “Boston Marathon.”

De Castella, the 1986 Boston winner, and Ikangaa were running along in the 1990 Commonwealth Games marathon, out of contention with five kilometers to go and with a desire to merely finish, preferably together.

Then another runner came alongside and Ikangaa took off, still racing.

Why? de Castella asked.

“Ah, yes, but he was from Zimbabwe,” Ikangaa answered.

“Well, we really shouldn’t have been passed by anybody,” Ikangaa added Friday, somewhat sheepishly.

The perfect race for him Sunday would be to take off, take the lead and shake off the years. The efforts of Salvador Para, the “rabbit” who is being employed to set the pace for the first 12-15 miles, would be superfluous, and Eddy Hellebuyck, also in the field and needing a 2:10:45 time to make the Belgian Olympic team, would be enhanced.

Peter Fonseca of Canada, gunning for a victory to add to two he had last year, would find it difficult, and others in the field, the Ukrainian Olympic hopefuls, the Brazilians and others, would see the back of Ikangaa’s shirt.

But Juma Ikangaa hasn’t seen perfection in a long while.

“No matter how good you are, if you miss the training it takes to run 2:08 or 2:09, you can’t make it up,” he said. “It is very, very difficult.”

So is victory at 37.

Or is it?

“In 1984, I was well-prepared for Los Angeles, and with five kilometers to go, [Carlos] Lopes of Portugal defeated us all,” Ikangaa said. “He ran an Olympic record [2:09:21].

“And he was 37.”

The question still comes daily, “Why do I torture myself to run 26 miles 385 yards this fast?” The answer also comes, and then the torture begins.

It is the same answer at 37 that it was at 27 or even 18, when he ran his first marathon.

“I do it to test my ability, my endurance,” he said. “I do it to see how much I can do.”

In this case, how much he still can do.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

New Marathon Route

Starting at 8:45 a.m. Sunday, more than 19,000 runners will follow the 26.2-mile pat of the Los Angeles Marathon. Wheelchair racers will push off 10 minutes earlier. The bicycle race starts at 6 a.m. According to marathon organizers, the best way to get to the starting line is the Red Line, via the Seventh Street / Metro Center station. Spectators wanting to view the finish should take the subway to the Pershing Square station.

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* COURSE MAP

A look at the new path that starts and ends in downtown L.A. for the first time. C6

* IN BUSINESS

Downtown merchants expect a run for their money from the marathon. D1