Women’s elite field aims to challenge Bloomsday record this weekend

If the prerace hype is accurate, the Bloomsday elite women’s division could be one for the record books.

The 49th Lilac Bloomsday is Sunday morning, and the women’s field is expected to challenge the course record for the 12-kilometer (7.5 miles) course – 38 minutes, 3 seconds.

Sarah Naibei, 26, of Kenya is back in hopes of pulling off a repeat. She won in a time of 39 minutes flat, well off the course record but respectable nonetheless.

“She’s hit a stride in her career that’s pretty electric,” elite race coordinator Andy LeFriec said.

Naibei headlines what LeFriec calls a deep field. Daisy Kimeli, 30, also of Kenya, returns after finishing third last year while nursing a hamstring injury.

Perhaps most poised to challenge Naibei is Diana Chepkorir, 22, another Kenyan. She’s ranked 14th in the Women’s Road Running world rankings.

“For us to get No. 14 (in the world) is huge,” LeFriec said. “I look for her to kind of set the pace. We have seven who have run under (1:09) in a half marathon.”

LeFriec plans to ride on the women’s media truck. He wants to watch how the strategy develops through the race.

Infamous Doomsday Hill – a half-mile stretch that reaches the fifth mile at the top – traditionally decides the elite races, LeFriec said.

“At the end of the day in a field that’s stacked like this, you’re looking at four to eight runners at the bottom of Doomsday Hill and somebody’s going to come out 10 to 20 yards ahead of everybody else by the top of Doomsday Hill,” LeFriec said.

“It’s the separator. You can choose to either pound Doomsday Hill or you can choose to save your energy a little bit and stick with the pack and try to run somebody down. My observation is the (runner) who is in the lead at the top of Doomsday Hill or the people who make that break and stay, they’re the ones who win.”

LeFriec hopes the challengers don’t become “political.” He has a good explanation.

“The hard part would be if they got political – where they all look around at each other and say who’s going to do it, who’s going to do the pulling,” LeFriec said.

“Do we want to make it a sprint at the end or who’s going to run up Doomsday the fastest and split out? They can play it that way and run slow. I need one person to say we’re running hard today. I’m going to push the pace because I know I’m going to lose a sprint at the end.”

LeFriec said another factor in whether the women’s course record is threatened is in the shoes.

“We have super shoes now – carbon-plated shoes,” LeFriec said. “They’re a game changer. I think between the shoes and the field, the record is going down.”

The men’s race could be just as exciting , LeFriec said.

Diego Estrada, 35, of Flagstaff, Arizona, was second a year ago and will make his fourth Bloomsday start.

LeFriec said he’s not supposed to root for any runner, but he has a soft spot in his heart for Estrada.

“He’s looking to finally grabbing a title,” LeFriec said. “Diego and I have a history. He kind of came out of retirement to restart his career and the person willing to give him an opportunity was me. He just comes here and battles his tail off. He wants to win Bloomsday. I just love that we’ve been a part of his resurgence as an elite athlete.”

Estrada, who finished 10 seconds behind Tebello Ramakongoana of Lesotho (34:40) last year, has run the seventh-fastest Bloomsday time.

LeFriec said Ramakongoano is a marathoner and used Bloomsday to do some speed work in preparation for a marathon. It’s unlikely Ramakongoana will run at Bloomsday again. He finished eighth at the Boston Marathon less than two weeks ago.

Pushing Estrada will be Simon Mwangi Waithira, 28, of Kenya. He won a half marathon in Milan.

In the wheelchair division, Hermin Garic is back as the men’s winner. He’s coming off a 16th-place finish at Boston.

Hannah Babalola, 36, is favored among the women. She was second last year to Hannah Dederick, who didn’t return this year.