ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 2, 2003

Cheri Blauwet

Krige Schabort

KRIGE SCHABORT: Mendoza is usually a good climber. But actually I have to say, I didn't really expect him to start that fast. I thought we would stay together up the first reach until at least the Queensboro Bridge. I thought he would launch an attack on the Queensboro Bridge. He went early and I think he might have paid for it later in the race.

KRIGE SCHABORT: I caught him -- the three of us, me and Kelly Smith and Ernst Van Dyk, we caught him, I would say, at mile eight or nine and then I passed him -- actually then attacked. I launched attack. He stayed with me a couple of times, I dropped him and then he would come back again. Halfway through the bridge -- what is the name of that bridge -- halfway point, that's where I finally dropped him.

KRIGE SCHABORT: I felt good today. I guess it's a little bit -- if you feel good and you can get away towards the end and finish -- I am not that good of a sprinter so I thought it might be a good idea to get away and use my endurance to make a gap.

KRIGE SCHABORT: I had a shoulder injury about a month and a half ago, and today the last two weeks actually, I had no problem with it. It really felt good, so I am really relieved.

KRIGE SCHABORT: Actually when I made a gap on Mendoza, a couple of times I looked behind me because I know he's strong on the bridges, but didn't close the gap at halfway reach, and by the time we got to Queensboro, I didn't see him at all. Then on First Avenue, I actually saw lights behind me, far behind me, it was Ernst Van Dyk and Mendoza is, you know, at one point I thought they were catching up. I think they mentioned that they were closing the gap on me. That basically motivated me to just to put the pressure on and maintain my pace. I actually didn't look at my clock until mile 23. Then I realized I was way ahead -- way into course record pace. Then I just went all the way to the finish.

KRIGE SCHABORT: Living and training in Georgia, I like the warmer weather. I think it played into my hands today, the weather. Last year it was cold and windy and it was just not as easy a race as today, although it's always a tough race to be in New York. You have to check the potholes and go around it as much as you can here in New York. But the warm weather was good for me.

KRIGE SCHABORT: With the change in the course for the wheelchair division starting on top of the bridge and also the change in the other bridge, I thought it might be possible with the weather conditions. But I thought 135 would be reasonable. I got a little bit lucky today, maybe --

KRIGE SCHABORT: Yesterday in training, yesterday morning in training, I actually realized my fender was cracked on the right-hand side. And I bought some super glue, and thanks to the Hilton maintenance people, they brought a drill and made a hole in the fender and into the frame of the chair I used (inaudible). During the race I was a little bit concerned about just -- I was just wanted to make sure it's going to stay in place where I want it to be. But I had no problem with it.

KRIGE SCHABORT: Yeah, yeah, a little bit of work to do on the chair, yeah.

CHERI BLAUWET: New York was good for me today. I love New York.

CHERI BLAUWET: I love the warmer weather. It really works better for me. Just this morning I was feeling really great, especially as compared to last year when it was like 20 degrees colder. I enjoyed it. It made the first significant downhill a lot more pleasant certainly.

CHERI BLAUWET: There was some head wind through the middle sections especially but it wasn't too terrible, I didn't think.

CHERI BLAUWET: The women's field this year was really talented and it really helped to us push the pace, and again, even if there was a head wind, we could trade-off the draft and really work together to break the course record so significantly, which we did. So it was really nice.

CHERI BLAUWET: New York is a really technically challenging course for our division, the roads aren't necessarily all the smoothest and there's a lot of turns and also a lot of uphill climbs. That really made the difference for me, any time that we were climbing I was able to make a bit of a gap and work the field a little bit.

CHERI BLAUWET: Around 23. Right before Central Park.

CHERI BLAUWET: 1:50 in L.A. It's really a different -- that gap is really because of the type of course. But the fact that we had such a nice pack of women today was really key.

CHERI BLAUWET: I am not surprised at all. The weather contributed a lot. But in addition, the quality of racers that we have here keeps growing every year, and Bob has done a lot to bring the top races across the world. It's not surprising when the records start to fall when you bring all those people to one event. I think that will continue to happen. Look for it next year also.

CHERI BLAUWET: I am taking a few months off, not off, but at a little bit lower pace to do some recovery and then probably wind back up for the spring marathons like L.A. and Boston.

KRIGE SCHABORT: I am going to keep the wheels rolling. I had sometime off with my shoulder so I am going to the Honolulu marathon next month. From there I will just go into a winter program and start off with L.A. and Boston and all the big ones for next year.