Olympic Gold Medalist Leads Elite Field in Chicago Marathon
Constantina Tomescu-Dita Returns to Chicago

by: Paul Banks

If you enjoyed watching Constantina Tomescu-Dita run (and win) the Olympic marathon, then you should be very excited to learn that she’ll be running here in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 12. The newly crowned Olympic women’s marathon gold medalist of Romania tops the list of this competing in the Elite Field –a grouping of highly accomplished runners who start earlier then the rest of the race participants- of runners on Sunday. She’s also a very familiar face to the Marathon, as she won the race in 2004.

“I am delighted to be returning to Chicago. I have always felt great running there and have been fortunate to have some of the best races of my life there,” said Tomescu-Dita from Romania shortly following her Olympic victory in Beijing. “It will also be nice to return because I understand Chicago is bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games and I think it would be a wonderful place to have them.” At age 38, Tomescu-Dita became the oldest woman to ever win the gold medal in the 26.2-mile Olympic contest. Another racer with a prestigious resume is upstart William Kipsang of Kenya who currently holds the 11th all-time fastest marathon finish time, fifth-fastest this year (2:05:49). The professional racers will start the 26.2-mile race at 7:55am on Sunday, Oct. 12, five minutes in advance of the massive field of 45,000 registered runners.

Tomescu-Dita’s main competition this weekend will be 2007 Chicago Marathon runner-up and fellow Romanian Adriana Pirtea, 28, as well as up-and-comer Bezunesh Bekele, 25, of Ethiopia. Race fans might recall Pirtea, who entered the final stretch last year maintaing a sizeable lead. As she pumped her arm to celebrate an anticipated victory just a few hundred meters shy of the finish line, returning 2006 Chicago Marathon champion Berhane Adere snuck up behind her unnoticed and passed her in the final strides to repeat her championship finish. So I guess it just proves the old adage “don’t celebrate your touchdowns, until after you’ve crossed the goalline.”

Bekele, on the other hand will attempt to follow-up her impressive debut at the Dubai Marathon. She enters the Chicago race with a 2:23:09 personal record, second in the field only to Tomescu-Dita herself. “The Bank of America Chicago Marathon has a reputation for producing historic efforts and breathtaking finishes and the quality of this year’s elite field is an extension of that tradition,” said Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski of Chicago Event Management, now in his 19th year overseeing the event.

Perhaps this year’s event will provide another dramatic climax?

The 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon will start and finish in Chicago’s Grant Park beginning with the wheelchair race at 7:50 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12. In its 31st year, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon annually attracts 45,000 runners, 1.5 million spectators and 125,000 Expo visitors and generates more than $10 million for charities. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is one of the five races that comprise the World Marathon Majors.