Mokono Out of Grandma's Marathon

Lamech Mokono, the 2008 Grandma's Marathon champion, has been scratched from this Saturday's edition of the event, Kevin Pates of the Duluth News-Tribune reports HERE.

The U.S. visa the Kenyan needed to enter the country was not granted in time for the 28-year-old to defend his title.

Wide-Open Field

Kenyan David Tuwei, last year's runner-up in 2:13:44 returns as one of the favorites in the men's race. He'll be joined by compatriots Benson Cheruiyot, the runner-up at this year's Houston Marathon in 2:11:33, David Cheruiyot, who is unbeaten in his last three marathons and who sports a 2:10:35 PR from 2007, and Francis Kipketer, who clocked 2:10:27 in 2007 and has two top-ten finishes at the Paris Marathon.

Notably, no elite male Russian athletes will compete at Grandma's in 2009. Only Ukrainian Yevgeniy Sirotin, a masters runner with a 2:19:00 PR, hails from eastern Europe, a region that has accounted for four Grandma's men's winners.

Local favorites in the race include Sauk Rapids High School and NDSU alum Christopher Raabe and Team USA Minnesota's Chris Lundstrom. The DNT's Pates has a feature on Lundstrom HERE.

Duluth native Eric Hartmark is entered in the marathon as well.

(See the post below for a brief listing of women's favorites.)

Update: Here are complete elite fields for MEN and WOMEN at Grandma's.

There's also a listing HERE of athletes who have been added to and dropped from the field since the event's media guide was published.

Pete Gilmore, an American with a 2:12:45 PR, and Zinaida Semenova, the 46-year-old 2002 Grandma's champ and three-time TCM winner, are the most notable additions to the race.
Photo of Mokono by Gene Niemi