The Boston Marathon takes place on April 17 (U.S. time), participated by 22,000 pairs of strong legs from all over the world. The Boston Marathon is prestigious not only in its 110 years of history, but also in its selectiveness. To be able to run in this marathon, male runners in the age range of 18 to 34 must have an official time record under 3 hours and 10 minutes; for women, the requirement is 3 hours and 40 minutes and under. Participants who are 40 to 44 years of age are required to have a time record of 3 hours 20 minutes and under for men, and 3 hours 50 minutes and under for women.
Korean contingent is races third largest-
The number of participating runners from Korea has increased over the yearsfrom four in the 1999 marathon to 150 in the 2005 event. This year, a total of 208 Korean runners will take part in the event. This is the third largest number of participants following the U.S. (16,000) and Canada (2,000).
Making this years race particularly interesting, two rival female runners from Korea, Lee Jeong-suk (41, Cheonan) and Mun Gi-suk (44, Daejeon), will run against each other and the other elite runners.
Lee Jeong-suk, Mun Gi-suk get royal treatment-
The 2006 Seoul International Marathon winner Lee holds her best record at 2:49:56, while Mun swept the Seoul International Marathon for four straight years from 2002 to 2005 and holds her best record at 2:47:52. Lee took the crown from Mun by seven seconds with her 2:52:33 finish in this years Seoul International Marathon.
The two runners will start their race in the elite group at 11:31 a.m. Lee, saying a long flight and the jetlag were the hardest part of the event, made clear that her first aim is to finish the race. Mun agreed that the jetlag will eventually take a toll in the race, but she hopes to give it her best try as a runner representing Korea.