Elite Fields Appear Deep Jones Tries For Repeat Title, Faces Formidable Jennings

Kenya’s Hezron Otwori will try to grab his first Bloomsday title. Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., will be gunning for her 10th straight.

When Paul Wiggins begins the course, the Australian will be in search of his fourth straight title. Spokane’s Kim Jones will be looking to follow last year’s victory with the same outcome. This time she’ll be going against past Olympic medalist Lynn Jennings.

Oh, there’ll be the usual 50,000-plus other runners and walkers who will suck wind up Doomsday Hill and later display the evidence of their morning accomplishment by wearing a new T-shirt.

But it’s the strong field of elite runners and wheelchair competitors who will set the pace over the 12-kilometer (7.46 miles) course.

Jones, who turns 40 on Saturday, will be competing for her first masters title. But the overall women’s title remains first on her mind.

“I think it’s one of the strongest fields that I have had to compete against in a number of years,” said Jones, who attended Tuesday’s Bloomsday press conference. “I can’t even remember the last race. Maybe it was the Peachtree (Road Race) right before the Olympics that was the toughest field that I’ve ever competed in … until this coming Sunday.”

Jones will have a stern challenge going up against Bloomie first-timer Jennings, a three-time winner of the World Cross Country Championship (1990-92) from Newmarket, N.H.

Jennings, 37, won bronze in the 10,000 at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Because Jones, entering her ninth Bloomsday, primarily is a marathon runner and Jennings usually sticks to the shorter distances mostly on tracks, the two rarely meet.

Their last race against each other was in February 1997 at the U.S. Championships in Jacksonville, Fla. Jennings won the 15K race. Jones came in 18 seconds later for third.

Last year’s Bloomsday runner-up, Caroline Zajac, 25, of Albuquerque, N.M., also is returning. Much like the men’s race, the women’s field will have an international flavor with top Kenyan racers Jane Omoro (22), Gladys Ondeya (22) and Margaret Kagiri (29). The field also will include Spokane’s Kari McKay, 29, an Eastern Washington University graduate who’s competing in her sixth Bloomsday.

In the men’s field, Otwori leads a strong Kenya contingent. The 22-year-old runner already has second-place (1997) and fifth-place (1996) finishes here. Lazarus Nyakeraka, last year’s winner, was not able to return.

“He had some sort of problems he had to resolve in Kenya,” said Bloomsday founder Don Kardong.

However, another Kenyan runner, Peter Githuka, will be here. Githuka, 29, finished fifth last year and was Kardong’s pick.

In the men’s wheelchair division, Wiggins, 35, has been battling a rotator cuff injury that has him racing at less than 100 percent. Craig Blanchette, the 29-year-old eight-time winner (1987-94) has been going very strong.

The drama in the women’s wheelchair division centers around 31-year-old Driscoll and her attempt to win her 10th straight Bloomsday.

At last week’s Boston Marathon, Driscoll, a seven-time Boston winner, was edged at the finish line by defending champion Louise Sauvage. Sauvage has not entered Bloomsday, but the field includes last year’s second-place finisher Julia Wallace, 33, of Roswell, Ga., and sixth-place finisher Juana Post, 32, of Anchorage.

This year’s course has been altered because of the reconstruction of Riverpark Square Park. The finish has been moved to in front of the Spokane County Courthouse.

Also, in an attempt to avoid the notorious bottleneck at Marne Bridge over Latah Creek, race organizers have staggered the start.

Wheelchair competitors lead the pack at 8:40 a.m., followed by elite women runners at 8:45. The elite men run at 9. Runners on Main will start at 9:10, followed by runners on Sprague at 9:20 - with the exception of Corporate Cup entries which will leave from Sprague at 9.