Bor Is in Record Territory

Simon Bor has been a runner for as long as he can remember, since his schoolboy days in the small Kenyan village of Kapsabet. His three children, 7, 5 and 3, watch him dash off for training runs and eagerly await the day they can join him.

The slender, soft-spoken farmer has run along dusty roads in his homeland and on paved streets lined with skyscrapers in world capitals. After a brief absence, he has run back to Los Angeles, where he set the L.A. Marathon course record of 2 hours 9 minutes 25 seconds in 1999 and fell in love with a place he would never have believed existed if he hadn’t seen it for himself.

Bor, 36, hasn’t run in Los Angeles since his fourth-place finish in 2000, kept away by other commitments. He brings to Sunday’s race -- the 20th running of the L.A. Marathon -- not only the course record but the best personal record in the thin elite men’s field, the 2:07:55 he clocked in finishing second at the 2002 Amsterdam Marathon.

“Since I came to L.A. the first time, I’ve loved the place,” Bor said. “It’s a place I’ve been longing to come back. I enjoyed it here and always wanted to come back, and I am happy I could do that.”

The 26-mile, 385-yard course has changed since Bor ran it. Starting in 2002 the route was altered to include flatter, faster downtown terrain. Also, the starting line this year has been moved back to 6th and Figueroa and the finish line back to 5th and Flower, as in previous races.

More than 25,000 runners are expected, many aiding charitable causes. Including wheelchair athletes, the bike tour and the 5K run/walk, about 45,000 people will navigate a course that passes many of the city’s landmark parks, buildings and sights.

For the first time, cyclists who also want to run will be transported from the finish line of the bike tour to the starting line of the marathon by a “spa on wheels,” which will provide massages and snacks.

An L.A. Marathon-record 19,396 people finished last year’s race, making it the seventh-largest marathon in the world and fourth in the U.S. behind New York, Chicago and Honolulu.

For the second consecutive year, the elite female runners will get a head start in the race for the $75,000 bonus awarded to the first person across the finish line. A group led by defending champion Tatyana Pozdnyakova of Ukraine will start 15 minutes 50 seconds ahead of the men, a shorter lead time than the 20-minute 30-second head start they had last year.

The men’s and women’s winners will each get a car and $25,000 from a prize purse of $301,800. Bor can’t help dreaming about the car.

“The Honda is very nice,” Bor said. “I would be very happy if I would win it.”

First, though, he must combat a course whose climbs and layout have created a reputation of being unfriendly to those seeking fast times to launch the outdoor season. There also are weather variations to reckon with.

William Burke, the L.A. Marathon’s co-founder and still its president after his company sold the race to Devine Racing of Chicago last year, said weather has largely determined the date. It has usually been staged in the first week of March but was run on March 29 in 1998 and on March 14 in 1999. Most notable marathons, such as Boston, Paris, London and Rotterdam, are run in mid- or late April.

“The way we set the date is with climate records,” Burke said last week, “and the first Sunday of March it doesn’t normally rain. This year, who knows?

“The other interesting thing is, it rained on our fifth, 10th and 15th years.”

If that pattern holds, the 20th race will be damp. Forecasts on Friday called for partly cloudy skies and temperatures of 51 to 72.

Bor hasn’t forgotten the course or the cold rain of 2000.

“One thing I remember from 1999 is that it was very difficult,” he said. “In 2000 there was a lot of rain. I didn’t come last year, but people have said last year was very hot [89 degrees by midafternoon].

“That’s one of the things that have made the course be a little bit hard. And in the second part, of course, there are the hills.... The marathon is a mental challenge. I like it because I think I’ve gained some experiences over the years. When you use tactics and you are used to running in many different places, it helps you.”

Bor said he expected a lot of challenges from “my friends,” the other Kenyans in the field. “I cannot underestimate anybody,” he said. “When there is a stronger field it is easier to come up with good results.”

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Kenya’s Domain

The 1999 victory by Simon Bor, right, in record time began a run of six consecutive victories by Kenyans in the open men’s category. The winners with their times:

*--* Year Runner Time 1999 Simon Bor 2:09:25 2000 Benson Mutiisya Mbithi 2:11:55 2001 Steven Ndungu 2:13:13 2002 Steven Ndungu 2:10:27 2003 Mark Yatich 2:09:52 2004 David Kirui 2:13:41

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