His sights set on fourth marathon win

Booth, 29, won three straight -- in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Last year, he only ran in the relay due to commitments to a sponsor that he's no longer with.

"I feel like winning three in a row was a pretty good accomplishment, but I'm definitely shooting for a fourth (overall) win," said Booth, whose best time in his past three wins was 2:31.54 in 2006. "With Manitoba Marathon, it's typically one of the races where conditions are quite warm and it's not set up where you're going to be able to run a really fast time, so I go in really trying to think about the win and as high as I can.

"I love to do the Manitoba Marathon because it's my hometown race."

He'll be racing where no Manitoban has gone before. The former University of Manitoba track athlete is already the only Manitoba runner to have won the full marathon three times.

Dane Samuel of Brandon (1999, 2004) and Chris Glowach (1997, 1998) are the only Manitobans to have won the marathon more than once. The record of six wins overall is held by Dennis Rinde of California.

Some of Booth's main competition this year will be Steinbach's Greg Penner, who placed second last year, and Bill Rettie, a Winnipeg native now living in Japan, who finished third overall last year.

Booth said the forecast, which at this point is for a scorcher of a day, with temperatures possibly soaring into the 29 C range, suits him fine.

"I know under these conditions, I should be able to finish it, and even if things start to turn bad out there, I should be able to tough it out," he said.

"I think back to 2005 when I won my first (Manitoba Marathon), it was a very cool spring in Winnipeg and all of a sudden, it was 22 degrees by the time the gun sounded (at 7 a.m.). This year is kind of shaping up to be that same type of race."

He said he's run three marathons involving extreme heat, which may be an advantage over other competitors this year.

"I've always enjoyed running in warmer conditions, so I tend to not even have the negative thoughts going into it like many people do," said Booth, noting he lost 11 pounds from his 5-foot-6, 120-pound frame when he won in 2005's heat.

"In 2005, that was probably the toughest race I've ever run, just because it was so hot, but the good memories outweighed the bad," he said. "Hopefully, it will be like that this Sunday as well."

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 20, 2009 A10