Canada’s Lioudmila Kortchaguina confirmed for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Canadian women’s marathon champion Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Thornhill, Ont.  is confirmed to start at the 20th anniversary of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on September 27. She will line up as a serious contender amongst the strongest women’s field in the race’s history. “We’re just delighted to have Lioudmila on the line,” race director Alan Brookes says. “She’s having a great year, and with some good, hometown crowd support she’s really in there with a great chance against the Africans and Eastern Europeans.”

The 38-year-old Kortchaguina will have to be at her best to get on the podium. In the pre-race odds, she’s listed at 15-1. Favourites Lydia Cheromei of Kenya, defending champ Mulu Seboka and Amane Gobena of Ethiopia, are at 7-2, 9-2 and 4-1, respectively. An experienced veteran, Cheromiei made her marathon debut at Amsterdam last October and won in 2:25:57. Seboka set a new course record at the Toronto Waterfront in 2008 with a 2:29:06, and Gobena was 2nd at Los Angeles in May in 2:26:53, after being beaten by Kortchaguina in Houston where she faded to 5th in 2:32:07. Rounding out the strong women’s contenders are Ethiopian Haile Kebebush [6-1], who ran 2:28:08 for 3rd at Rome in March; last year’s second-place finisher on the Waterfront, Olena Shurkhno of Ukraine [10-1], who won Rock ‘n Roll Arizona in January; and Russian Nataliya Volgina [15-1], who is herself coming back from injury after a PB of 2:27:32 set in Paris in 2006.