Marathon champ seeks another run of luck in Vegas

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From the moment Joseph Kahugu crossed the finish line in the 2006 Las Vegas Marathon, the Kenyan distance-running ace made clear his intentions of returning to defend his title.

"I have to come back," Kahugu said then. "Vegas is good."

After collecting his winnings for that effort 10 days ago — $15,000 for winning the men’s title and a $50,000 bonus for winning the event’s male-female challenge — his resolve to repeat as champion is even stronger.

"This is the first time I’ve ever come to defend my title," said Kahugu, who counts the Dublin, Dubai and Madrid marathons among his handful of victories at the 26.2-mile distance. "I like the course, I like the city, I like the people, so I wanted to come back to Las Vegas."

A shot at $45,000 certainly didn’t dissuade him, either. The third running of this revamped event will go off at 6 a.m. Sunday on the Strip in front of Mandalay Bay, with an expected 16,000 runners competing in either the marathon or half-marathon.

Should Kahugu repeat as the men’s winner, $20,000 awaits him. And should he win what is now being called the Megabucks Challenge, he’ll add another $25,000 to his total.

But winning the challenge won’t be easy. In an elaborate news conference Friday at Mandalay Bay, replete with Robin Leach as the emcee, the elite women’s field learned how much of a head start it will get on the elite men’s field: 18 minutes, 3 seconds.

The first one across the line, man or woman, gets the $25,000 bonus.

Mandalay Bay sports book director Jay Rood immediately posted the elite men’s field as minus-200 favorites. With such a large time differential, the value might just be with the women, at plus-160.

"I’m very excited about my chances this year, but this year will be very different," said Kahugu, who won a wind-swept race last year in 2 hours, 16 minutes, 19 seconds, nearly two minutes ahead of second-place finisher Noah Talam. "I think on Sunday it will be very difficult. The other people running are very good. But that should push us to a good finishing time."

Fellow Kenyans Christopher Cheboiboch and Philip Tanui have both run sub-2:10 marathons, as has Ethiopia’s Moges Taye. Cheboiboch took second in Boston and New York in 2002, and just two months ago he took sixth in Chicago despite twisting his ankle early in a race run in sweltering heat.

"I have confidence, because most of these runners, I’ve run with them before," said Kahugu, who has a career best of 2:07:59. "But some of them can beat me. You can just never predict a marathon. It’s such a crazy game."

The women’s field, also solid, is even harder to handicap. Former world-record holder Tegla Loroupe is the biggest name, but she is participating in the event as an ambassador for her peace foundation — something she also did last month in New York. So she has not been in serious training. That said, she still took eighth in New York.

Russian Silviya Skvortsova, winner of the 2005 Rome Marathon, could be the odds-on favorite, although she said she’s trying to peak for the Olympic trials next year.

"I’ll run as fast as possible," Skvortsova said through an interpreter. "It’s a new course to me, so I want to be a little bit cautious."

She intends to enjoy the Las Vegas scene, though.

"This is like Disneyland for adults," she said. "I’m just hoping to be able to focus on the race. And if you’re running well, the setting gives you so much energy, like in New York."

• NOTE — The Las Vegas Kids Marathon, with an expected 2,000 local children completing the final mile of a three-month fitness program, takes place today in the parking lot at Mandalay Bay Convention Center South. Festivities begin at noon, with the run at 1 p.m. Loroupe, a two-time New York City champion, will lead the field.