When It Comes to Long Distance, They’re Dialed In

Their Michael Jordans are Cosmas Ndeti, Kip Keino and Paul Tergat, countrymen who have been the best in the world at what they do, which is run over hill and dale . . . and over a lot more hills and dales.

Running is part of the culture in Kenya, success breeding success in a way that has kept Kenyan men dominating long-distance racing for nearly two generations. That’s why organizers knew exactly where to look to improve the field for this year’s Los Angeles Marathon.

Want a car? Call Detroit. A country singer? Ring up Nashville. A movie star? Hello, Hollywood?

Want some runners? Call Kenya and and see if anybody wearing Fila, Saucony, Reebok or Nike is at home.

The reason is simple enough.

Ndeti is a once-a-year Bostonian who stops by on Patriots’ Day to win the city’s marathon so he can buy some more Kenyan real estate.

Keino was an Olympian who returned in triumph in 1968 after having won Mexico City gold.

Tergat held the world half-marathon record until two weeks ago.

Philip Chirchir is part of a delegation of 11 Kenyan men and two women who are part of the 36-runner elite field for Sunday’s race.

He has run a 2-hour 8-minute 56-second marathon, 1:23 faster than the Los Angeles record.

“When you are in America, you like to play American football, basketball,” he says. “In Kenya, we like to run. When you are kid, you want to be like the heroes you have, and our heroes are runners.”

They come from family farms, by and large, and when the running ends, they go back to raise maize, beans and children. And they speak of organized running beginning in school, selected over soccer and the other games teenagers play, but actually the choosing occurs before class and after, probably because there are no car pools.

Daniel Kihara ran “six or seven kilometers” each way, from home to school. He has run a 62-minute 40-second half-marathon.

Charles Tangus ran “7 1/2 to eight” kilometers each way. He has a 2:10:38 marathon.

When you run that much before you are 10, somehow doing 180-200 kilometers a week on Mt. Kenya when you are a grown-up training for a race doesn’t seem so daunting. Nor do three-times-a-day workouts or sessions of 20 200-yard sprints up steep hills.

“We run to stay good,” Chirchir says.

Good enough to be offered travel, money and a chance to be better at something than anybody in the world. Kenya exports coffee, tea, petroleum and runners who can churn out five-minute miles all day long, and who train and race around the world, folding cash-flow 10-kilometer events into their two-marathon-a-year sandwiches.

The Boston Marathon, dominated for a decade by Kenyans, is heard on the nation’s radios, cheered in the middle of the night, inspiring youngsters. Even those who worship at the altar of Ndeti, a four-time Boston winner, insist it isn’t his wealth, but his success that is envied.

“It’s the competition,” Chirchir insists. “We go to different countries for competition, and when you are competing you want to win.”

Kenyans had won in Berlin, Cleveland, New York, Rotterdam, Boston--seemingly everywhere on the marathon map except Los Angeles, until last year, when Lornah Kiplagat won the women’s race after Russia’s Nadezhda Ilyina was disqualified.

No Kenyan man has won here. Few have tried, most generally opting for bigger-money races elsewhere. But this year, there is more money to be made in L.A., $30,000 in cash and a $24,150 car to the winner, plus various bonuses, including $25,000 to men who can run under 2:10.

That’s 19 seconds under the Los Angeles Marathon record. Chirchir and countrymen John Kipkosgei and Simon Lopuyet have run sub-2:10 marathons. Others would like to join them on Sunday.

The L.A. organizers are paying $5,000 to women who finish under 2:32, $10,000 under 2:30, and Kenya’s Hellen Kimaiyo has run 2:29:45. Kimaiyo is making her second trip to Los Angeles. She was here for the 1984 Olympics, in which she ran the 3,000 meters.

The looks are almost bashful when the financial gain is brought up to the Kenyan contingent.

“Well, when you are doing good, it’s for a better life for yourself,” Chirchir finally admits. “You’re not doing something to lower yourself.”

The best of the Kenyans in Sunday’s race might be Lopuyet, who has the field’s lowest personal best, a 2:08:19 run while finishing fourth at Rotterdam last year.

His family raises cattle, sheep and goats, but he works as a postal clerk, a sort of government-employee-on-the-run.

“Paul Tergat was about two years [older than] me, and I wanted to be like him as a runner,” says Lopuyet, who trains in Germany with Kiplagat and Kenyan countrywoman Tegla Loroupe.

“He went into the army and I went into the post office, where they let me off three months [at a time] to train.”

He had started running while boarding at Saos High, a mission school, running 1,500-meter and five-kilometer races at 14, then building to the marathon while running in provincial and national events.

Los Angeles will be his fifth marathon. He has never won.

“I badly want to win one,” he says. “It would mean a great deal to me.”

And to everyone else in the field, for Sunday figures to be Kenyan against Kenyan, and Kenyan against the world. Kenyans, seeking to join their Dream Team of Ndeti, Keino and Tergat, seeking to extend domination for another generation by gaining a foothold in a race that has imported them in an effort to find marathon legitimacy.

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L.A. Marathon at a Glance

* WHEN: 8:20 a.m. (wheelchair), 8:45 a.m. (general) Sunday.

* START/FINISH: Begins at Figueroa and 6th and ends at Flower and 5th.

* TV: Channel 13.

* TOP MEN: Simon Lopuyot of Kenya, personal-best time of 2:08:19; Manuel Matias, Portugal, 2:08:33; Philip Chirchir, Kenya, 2:08:56; Alejandro Cruz, Mexico, 2:08:57; Tena Negere, Ethiopia, 2:09:04; Lucketz Swartbooi, Namibia, 2:09:08; Isidro Rico, Kenya, 2:09:14, and John Kipkosgei, Kenya, 2:09:56.

* TOP WOMEN: Hellen Kimaiyo, Kenya, 2:29:45; Maura Viceconte, Italy, 2:28:16; Albina Galimova, Russia, 2:31:12, and Svetlana Zakharova, Russia, 2:33:14.

* WEATHER FORECAST: The National Weather Service predicts intermittent showers possible from the race’s start until noon. If El Nino influences Sunday’s storm, it will be heavier and wetter and street flooding could occur.