Monday, May 10, 1999
Wheelchair finish resembles NASCAR
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As they sped around the corner of Central Parkway and made the sharp turn for home onto Ezzard Charles Drive, the blue-shirted racer was just behind the purple-shirted one.
The crowd began cheering as the two wheelchair-racers strained mightily with their gloved-hands on the wheels to give their bikes all the speed they could muster for the final three blocks before the finish line in front of Union Terminal.
“The guy in blue was drafting behind the guy in purple and tried to make a NASCAR-type move to shoot by him, but the lead guy held him off,” said race worker Walt Howard.
“The guy in purple” was Saul Mendoza, 32, of Mexico City, who won the men's wheelchair division in 1:30:46.
“The guy in blue” was Krige Schabort who finished second in 1:30:47.
Mendoza has been doing wheelchair racing for 14 years, and has raced in more than 50 marathons.
“It's a pretty hilly course (here), but it's a good course for me because I'm pretty strong,” he said. “When I made the turn (onto Ezzard Charles), I didn't know if I was going to win. I'm a pretty good sprinter, so I just wait for the sprint and see what I have left.”
This was his third marathon of 1999.
Already this year, he won a Disney marathon and Los Angeles.
“This is one of the toughest courses I've been on, because of the hills and the turns,” he said. “You have to be very careful. It's tough, but nothing we can't handle. I'd say keep it the same.”
Schabort, who has done 100 marathons, and last year won Honolulu, Columbus and Detroit, seconded that opinion.
“It's a great course,” he said. “I take my hat off to the marshals. There was no confusion about which way to go.”
eanna Sodoma, 31, of San Diego, the winner of the women's division of the wheelchair race, saw the course for the first time while racing it.
“I hadn't had the chance to drive the course the day before the way I usually would,” she said. “I didn't have a car in town, so I couldn't drive it. Instead, I went out on a bike trail Saturday. It was so beautiful, I did more I should have — about 14 miles.”
Still, she finished in 2:11:57.
She has been racing for 10 years. She won Cleveland last week, and Los Angeles earlier this year.
She is the 5,000-meter world record holder.
All the turns make the Flying Pig unique, she said.
“Boston is pretty much a straight 26 miles, no turns at all,” she said. “Usually, just by driving a course, you can get accustomed to it, and be ready for the turns.”
She has done about 50 marathons. How did the Flying Pig rate for difficulty?
“Medium-range, not the hardest, not the easiest,” she said. “A lot of people had been psyching me out (before the race), saying, "Have you seen the course? Have you seen the hills?' That concerned me a little bit, but they (the hills) were about what I expected.
“The first half of the course was significantly difficult. I was tired, but there was a lot of downhill, a lot of flat areas, the second half of the race. I'd like to see them (race officials) keep the course the same. If they re-paved it, it would be lovely!”
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