‘Women’s field is more competitive’, says Ian Ladbrooke

A shy Firehiwot Dado answered all her questions in monosyllables while her friend Genet Measso who was in the audience made her giggle. She was one of the four frontrunners introduced on Tuesday at the Media Center.

The Ethiopian who is in India for the first time and clocked her fastest time of 2:27:08 in 2009 in Rome was positive of her chances in Mumbai.

“I would like to finish first but it will depend on the conditions on Sunday,” she said. Genet Measso, who is also a runner, will be competing too.

Elite Athletes coordinator Ian Ladbrooke said, “Genet is a pace maker. She ran 6 races last autumn and won all of them.” The girls who love Mumbai plan to go for shopping on Friday. Natalya Volgina won the last time she competed in India in 2002 at the Pune Marathon but the Russian was wary about her chances this time. “All this while I was practising in -12 degrees, but here it’s very hot and humid,” Volgina felt.

Kenyan Daniel Kiprugut Too, who was slated to run in China and
landed in India last night, was very happy with the weather though.

“I am happy to be running here. It was raining when I left from Kenya. But the weather is good here and I hope it remains the same even on Sunday,” he stated.

Iaroslav Munsinchi, who came from Moldova where the temperature was -10 degrees, may have problem adapting to the conditions here.

Ian also felt that “the women’s race is a little stronger and more competitive than the men’s. In the women’s you have around 6-7 women all capable of running under 2 hours and 30 minutes while there were 4-5 men capable of running in around two hours and ten minutes.”