Buffalo Marathon News

Marathon changes course
Route won’t leave Buffalo city limits
(By Budd Bailey Updated: 05/25/07 8:46 AM
Courtesy Buffalo News)

The Nissan Buffalo Marathon in 2007 will be held in . . . Buffalo.
That doesn’t sound like it should be newsworthy, but it is. A slightly new course will greet runners who take off on a 26.2-mile jaunt Sunday at 7 a.m., and it will stay within the city limits.
There will be no more quick visits to Kenmore by runners. The new portion of the route comes in the first half of the race, as it heads south along the waterfront on Ohio Street. The halfway point will be right in the middle of downtown. The course then heads north through Delaware Park and goes as far north as Hertel Avenue before winding its way back toward the finish in front of the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.
“We had to change the course because Forest Lawn [cemetery] isn’t allowing us in this year,” Race Director John Beishline said. “That means we had to pick up 2.5 miles.
“We decided to eliminate Kenmore as well, and make it an all-Buffalo marathon. We made up the extra miles at the waterfront. It’s prettier. It’s more scenic. The course shows off the waterfront. It might be a little cooler.”
The new course also figures to be a little flatter and faster. The Kenmore portions of the route had been filled with twists and turns. This year’s route should be more direct.
Meanwhile, the half-marathon course starts on Franklin near Chippewa, also mostly winds around the waterfront, and finishes in front of the Convention Center.
The defending marathon champions — Jynocel Basweti and Lynn Dempsey — apparently won’t be back to defend their titles. But several top runners are scheduled to participate in either the marathon or half-marathon:
• Silas Soy of Kenya ran a 2:11:42 in the 2006 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. That’s about eight minutes faster than Basweti’s eventrecord time last year.
• Joshua Koros of Kenya, who ran 2:22:52 in the 2005 Philadelphia marathon, good for second place.
• Retta Feyissa of Ethiopia, second in the 2005 Buffalo marathon (2:26:53).
• Jose Moreira, a masters runner from Brazil with a 1:03 half-marathon time to his credit.
• Jacob Charmar, of Kenya and Chapel Hill, N.C., who finished sixth in 31:01 in a 10-kilometer race earlier this month in Washington.
• Edward Gapak, who won the Brooklyn half-marathon in 2006 with a time of 1:09:21.
• Todd Witzleben, two-time winner of Buffalo’s Turkey Trot. Witzleben, the former Orchard Park star, won the 20K race at the Penn Relays last month in 1:05:43. Witzleben has a 2:21 marathon on his resume.
• Jim Park of Buffalo, who was the top local finisher in 2005 and was second among local runners in 2006 (2:43:18).
• Gina McGee, who has two of the four fastest women’s masters times (2:54:40 and 2:55:34) in the history of the Steamtown (Scranton, Pa.) Marathon.
• Tammy Slusser of Monroeville, who finished second last year in 3:10:21.
• Joseph Illuzzi of Cheektowaga, giving the marathon a try at the age of 86.
The male and female winners of the marathon will earn $2,000 each, while second is worth $1,000 and third pays $500. The masters’ winners of the marathon and the half-marathon winners will earn $500 each, while the first-place masters in the half-marathon will pick up $200 each.
A bonus of $1,000 will go to winners who break the event record in overall or masters competition. The women’s record is 2:44:57, set by Beth Anne DiCiantis in 1991. The masters men’s mark was set by David O’Keeffe in 2001 (2:29:24), while the women’s standard is held by Leslie Carson (2:57:32, 2004).
A relay event of four-person teams also will be staged.