Wami poised for $500,000 marathon bonanza

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Gete Wami went out for what she called "a little jog" -- about 10 crisp miles in an hour -- on Monday morning just a day after her easy victory in the Berlin marathon.

"I feel very good," Wami said. "I have the feeling I could even run a marathon today."

That may be just as well as Wami is already eyeing victory in the New York marathon on November 4 when she is poised to land a cool $500,000.

The cash bonanza is the top prize in the inaugural World Marathon Majors which links all the big marathons, including Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York as well as the world championships and the Olympics in years they are staged.

Wami has 65 points, 10 clear of Latvia's Jelena Prokopcuka who has won the last two New York marathons but victory for Wami next month would land the Ethiopian the half-million jackpot.

New York was clearly on Wami's mind as she sped through Berlin on Sunday, winning in two hours 23 minutes 17 seconds -- well clear of Germany's Irina Mikitenko in 2:24:51.

"You can't avoid thinking about it," Wami said. "From the start of the race in Berlin I was calculating what would be needed to win Berlin without overdoing it.

"At 30 kms I thought it would be better to relax and just win this marathon and save something for New York."

RECOVERY NEEDED

Wami is attempting a unique double in marathon running, a punishing competition where conventional wisdom long has it that many months' or even a year's recovery is needed between races, let alone five weeks.

The 32-year-old, world 10,000 meters champion in 1999, said: "In the past I was good running cross country and now with the marathon majors, it's a challenge that I'm looking forward to. Right now it's very important to me."

Wami felt Berlin had still taken its toll and she would make some adjustments to her training for New York.

"Five weeks is not a long time," she said. "I'll take it easy for a few weeks and try to recover. After that I'll concentrate on speed work and see what happens. I won't be doing any runs of more than 2-1/2 hours."

The five big marathons were once bitter rivals. They still compete for top runners but the co-operation over the World Marathon Majors still turns heads.

Mary Wittenberg, the race director of the New York marathon, said the fact that Wami had the WMM on her mind in Berlin was proof that elite runners have embraced the series.

"Our series has been warmly received by our athletes," Wittenberg said in an e-mail response to a query from Reuters.

"One needs to look no further than Gete Wami's unprecedented attempt to win or place high in two major marathons within 35 days to understand the desire to win this title."

The men's competition, also worth $500,000, has already been decided in favor of Robert Cheruiyot. The Kenyan is well clear of the great Haile Gebrselassie who won in Berlin in world record time but who is skipping New York.