Ciudad de México MEX - Two of Mexico’s top female distance runner, Madaí Perez and Dulce Maria Rodriguez, aim at improving their personal bests and eventually a podium spot at the La Salle Chicago Marathon, to be held this Sunday.

Perez, who made her marathon debut in the Windy City in 2003, has trained with one main focus: to lower her best of 2:26:50, when 11th at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.

The 24-year old from the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala, who trains under the guidance former Mexican distance running star Germán Silva, wants to make the A standard for the 2007 World Champs in Osaka.

“I have opted to run marathons outside my country and the strategy has worked out. I hope to follow the same rhythm towards the 2007 Worlds”, said the tiny 1.57m athlete.

Perez and her husband, 2:18:54 marathoner Odilón Cuahutle, arrived in Chicago, with a similar weather to Tlaxcala. Cuahutle will also run the race.

“It is a flat course and the race will gather some of the best athletes aiming at fast times. I will try to take advantage of that”, added the 2004 Rotterdam marathon runner-up.

Perez tried the 2006 Los Angeles marathon in March, but did not finish and focused on the track this season, improving her personal bests over 5.000m (15:57.86) and 10.000m (32:22.09).

She went on to claim the 5.000m bronze medal at the 20th Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena.

On her previous road test, she set a course record at the high altitude Atlas Colomos 21k in Guadalajara in a 1:13:32 victory, in early September.

The Mexican has learned the lesson of an early fast pace for a 42.195km. After passing through 1:10:55 in the first half, she faded to ninth (2:29:57) at the 2004 New York Marathon.

She was also sixth at the 2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Edmonton.

Her 2:26:50 ranks her as the second fastest female marathoner in Latin American history, only behind her countrywoman Adriana Fernandez (2:24:06 in 1999).

Dulce Maria Rodriguez, 10 years older than Perez, expects to post the second sub 2:30 hour performance of her career and break her personal best of 2:29:00 from 2005.

The two-time Olympian made a fast marathon debut with a second-place finish at the 2001 Lala International Marathon in Torreón (2:31:45), before running 2:36:12 for 13th in Osaka 2002.

She claimed her first marathon victory in Mexico City in 2003 when running 2:40:58 at 2.240m over sea level.

Rodriguez has alternated her career between the road and the track, where she shows fast times at 5.000m (15.18.06 in 2004) and 10.000m (31:25.33 in 2005).

In 2005, she returned to same race where she had made her marathon debut in Torreón and became the first and only Mexican so far to run under 2:30 on home soil (2:29:00).

At Olympic Games and World Championships, Rodriguez has opted for the track events.

Initially registered for the 2006 Berlin Marathon, she gave herself more time to prepare for Chicago and came within a minute of her half marathon personal best with a 1:11:25 fifth-place finish at the Philadelphia Distance Run in mid September.

In the Windy City, both 1.57m women will be propelled by nine women who have run faster at 42.195km: Ethiopia’s

Berhane Adere, Russia’s Galina Bogomolova and Ludmila Petrova, USA´s Colleen De Reuck, Australia’s Benita Johnson, Romania’s Nuta Olaru, Lida Simon and Constantina Tomescu-Dita, as well as Japan’s Hiromi Ominami.

Founded in 1977, the Chicago Marathon has seen two Mexican wins:

Alejandro Cruz (2:08:57 NR) in 1988 and Martín Pitayo (2:09:41) in 1990).

Brazilians posted four wins in a row between 1991 and 1994, thanks to Joseildo Rocha, José César de Souza and Luiz dos Santos.