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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHONNovember 4, 2010Arata FujiwaraMarilson Gomes dos SantosSam GrotewoldAbel KiruiJames KwambaiEmmanuel MutaiNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK RICHARD FINN: Welcome, everybody, ladies and gentlemen, and our global TV audience tuning in on New York Road Runners Race Week Live for the ING New York City Marathon Race Week, and the third of our Daily News Conferences as we approach the 41st running of the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday. We have another full lineup of great athletes from around the world, as, again, the world comes to run in New York. We have the men here first. We'll have some questions and answers, comments from the men, then we'll bring up our ladies to begin, and then we'll have some Q & A. We have a full lineup today, and we'll get to those details later. Now I'd like to introduce from our professional athlete office, Sam goat wall. SAM GROTEWOLD: Thank you very much, Richard. I'll be playing the part of Mary Wittenberg today until she gets back from the airport picking up Haile Gebrselassie. New York is truly the city and the race where the world comes to run. And today we welcome some of the best of the world here to New York. What we really love about the ING New York City Marathon is the same thing we love about New York City itself. It's diversity. Athletes from all 50 U.S. states and more than 100 foreign countries will compete in this race. Dozens of languages will be spoken along the course and the colors of nearly 100 nations will be represented in the runners costumes, dressed, and flags flown along the course. It truly does reflect the spirit of New York. When it comes to the professional race, we try to recruit a field that mirrors the diversity of New York City, and mirrors the diversity of the other 40,000 plus participants in the race. This year we have 22 nations represented in our pro field. So to my immediate left, I'd like to introduce you to Abel Kirui. Abel finished third in Rotterdam -- no, I'm sorry, Abel was fourth in Rotterdam, third in Rotterdam in 2009, and then won the Gold Medal at the IWF World Championships Marathon in Berlin last summer. He really gave it everything he could to win the Virgin London Marathon this spring, finishing fifth, but we're thrilled to have Abel back here with us in New York: To his left, is Marilson Gomes dos Santos from Brazil. A two-time champion here in New York, and I would say one of our most popular champions we've ever had. Immediately to his left, James Kwambai, the third fastest marathoner in history with his 2:04:27 runner up finish in Rotterdam in 2009. Arata Fujiwara who we got to know this spring who came here after his victory in Ottawa to TOUR the ING New York City Marathon course, and put on a clinic with some of the children in our youth programs. And at the very end there is Emmanuel Mutai, the World Championship Szczerba medalist last year behind Mr. Kirui, and second in London earlier this year. RICHARD FINN: Thanks, Sam. We'll start with an opening comment from each of our athletes and then we'll open it up for questions and answers. Abel, you have been on a hot streak, running very well. Talk about coming here to New York and your thoughts about Sunday's race? ABEL KIRUI: I very much appreciating the organization. I thank you all. I can say it's really a day on Sunday, and I'm prepared to perform my very best when that day comes. RICHARD FINN: Thank you, able. Marilson? As we mentioned in the video, you won in 2006, 2008, it's now 2010, another even year. Do you feel lucky? Do you feel good about coming back and your chances on Sunday again? MARILSON GOMES DOS SANTOS: Going morning, everybody. It's a pleasure to be back in New York. I feel good about it. And this race is going to be very good because the course is very good. It's a tough one, but it's good, and I'm happy to be here again. RICHARD FINN: Thank you. James, you're one of the fastest marathoners in the world ever. New York may not be the fastest course. You have to approach New York a little bit different because of the hills and bridges; what is your approach coming into Sunday? JAMES KWAMBAI: Thank you very much. I think this is another day that came to us. I'm very happy. I was here last year. It is another day that we believe all of us here that anything can happen, and so in everybody. But for what I can say for my preparation for what I start from July for today, it's a great day for me. So I want to tell all of my fellow Kenyans here for what I have did on Saturday, I'm very prepared for myself. So thank you very much. RICHARD FINN: Arata, he was here in June. You've seen the course. Your thoughts about coming here and running in New York? ARATA FUJIWARA: Hello, everyone. I am very happy to be in New York to run New York City Marathon. About the course, I checked in June, it was like there are a lot of bleachers and there's a lot of up/downs. So I'm prepared to run the course I was running a mountain and trails to prepare for this tough course. RICHARD FINN: Emmanuel, you have run several great marathons. Never been here to New York. Again, your thoughts about running Sunday here in New York and against these great champions and other ones? EMMANUEL MUTAI: Yes, because it is my first time, I have to prepare myself now because I've been given a chance like this to compete, is intense. So for me I have confidence in myself that I'll do my best when Sunday comes. RICHARD FINN: Thank you. Questions for the athletes? Q. Marilson, you've won here twice in races in which you showed some patience and came on strongly at the end. I'm just wondering, I've heard a lot of talk this week about people going for the course record which is under 2:08, and there are people who have run faster in half marathons and are going to rely on the kind of speed they have. Are you still pretty much convinced that being cautious and coming on in the last few miles is the way to win this race? MARILSON GOMES DOS SANTOS: I think that each marathon is different, and we only get to know that during the marathon, they are never the same. So it would be ideal to be prepared for anything. I don't know if the first part's going to be slower, but we have to prepare for anything. Q. Abel, Haile Gebrselassie is in the field. Is he the man that you're going to watch on Sunday? Or what is it to run against Haile here in New York? ABEL KIRUI: Yes, of course, I like the pressure very much. That is really why I choose to come to New York to run with Haile. I've been respect for Haile -- I've been race with Haile for several times. Being that Haile is in the race, I really like it. In fact, I had a trip before I came to the race where we were warming up with Haile. So Sunday will come through. I believe that the training with somebody is a blessing, because Haile is very strong. I respect Haile. He's very strong. He knows so much. But maybe some luck will come to anybody among us. Thank you. RICHARD FINN: Arata, you were here in June with Haile. What are your feelings about running here against Haile and your thoughts about that? ARATA FUJIWARA: I'm really looking forward to run this time, because not only him, but there are a lot of strong runners. And I haven't decided which runner I need to focus on. But if someone is in front of me before the goal, I'm just going to run through the guy. End of FastScripts |
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