Friday, December 10, 1999

Bogacheva has
had a stellar year

The defending Honolulu
Marathon champ won in
Los Angeles, San Diego

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Irina Bogacheva isn't thinking about her rematch with Russian Svetlana Zhakarova on Sunday. Nor is she worried about trying to outkick former Olympic 10,000-meter gold medalist Deratu Tulu of Ethiopia if it's a close race.

The 38-year-old Kyrgyzstan national, coming off her best year as a marathoner, is just happy to be back in what she calls, "the best place in the world."

"This is my favorite race," she said, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes to emphasize her delight as she sat near an Outrigger Reef Hotel lanai yesterday.

"It's everything different here I like," she said. "Start in dark and when everybody wake up, you are finish. Something special. I think when you come to Hawaii, you feel perfect inside and outside."

Bogacheva won here last year in 2:33:27, dethroning Zhakarova by a comfortable margin of three minutes, 17 seconds in an atmosphere markedly different from the controversial 1997 race.

That year, Bogacheva led for three quarters of the race and then got into an infamous jostling duel with the Russian, who went on to win.

The women exchanged angry words at the finish area.

It was a scene Bogacheva regretted, and last year, the two women made sure they hugged in a show of public reconciliation, and became friends.

Having joined Dr. Gabriel Rosa's Fila team, Bogacheva's career has taken a giant leap forward since March.

She captured the Los Angeles Marathon in March in 2:30:32, and then led all the way to set a personal record and win San Diego's Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in 2:28:46 in June.

In October, Bogacheva finished fifth in the LaSalle Banks Chicago Marathon, but bettered her personal record with a 2:27:46 performance.

For Sunday, she said her coach of 18 years, former Soviet coach Viktor Borisov, has given her a special plan she would not reveal. After this race, she said she will focus on making the Kyrgyzstan Olympic marathon team.

Bogacheva comes from a republic in Central Asia that's a little smaller than South Dakota. She runs 100 miles a week in the demanding altitude of the Tien Shan Mountains near the Chinese border.

Hardly anyone would attempt to pronounce the name of Bogacheva's country until they see it spelled phonetically: Ker-zik-stan.

And hardly anyone could name another athlete of Bogacheva's caliber to emerge from the landlocked former Soviet republic bordered by China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

She runs around Issyk-Kul, one of the largest mountain lakes in the world.

Famous for its breathtaking scenery, the 113-mile-long lake remarkably never freezes even though it is at 5,278 feet.

She said that while much of her success is due to Borisov's new training program, a small part is due to the more comfortable shoes Fila has given her.

But Bogacheva added that it's mostly because she is really "only 18."

Tulu, 28, has never run in Honolulu but she poses a genuine threat to both Bogacheva and Zhakarova, whose running style is a good deal more conservative than that of the Africans.

"Deratu runs free out there," said her agent, Mark Wetmore. "She doesn't run like a marathoner."

Tulu won the world cross-country championship in 1996 and 1997.

She made her marathon debut -- her only marathon -- in 1997 when she finished fifth at Boston in 2:30:29.

Tulu took time off from running in summer of last year to give birth to her daughter, Tison, back in Addis Ababa. The child is now 15 months old, and Tulu has resumed a promising marathon career.

The 1992 Olympic gold medalist at 10,000 meters, she owns a personal best of 31:06:02 at the track distance. She has done 5,000 meters in 14:50.89.

Her speed is something neither Bogacheva nor Zhakarova can match, and neither wants to get into a sprint with her.

Zhakarova finished second to Bogacheva in the Los Angeles Marathon this year (2:32:54) and set a personal best (2:27:08) while finishing third at the Berlin Marathon in September.

She has finished second in Honolulu twice (1998, 1996) and won once (1997).

Another former Honolulu winner from Russia, Ramila Burangulova, 38, was supposed to be in the field and a room at the Outrigger Reef is being held for her. But she had not arrived as of yesterday afternoon. Marathon spokesmen said they are trying to reach her and suspect visa problems.

Burangulova won here in 1996 in 2:34:28.

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Honolulu Marathon