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There’s a New Sheriff in Town
Andrey Kuznetsov

By Randy Mayes

After high school and two years in the Russian Army, Andrey Kuznetsov spent three years working in a shipbuilding factory. While in the Army he excelled in the pentathlon competition. The events included running, swimming, shooting, equestrian, and sabers. After passing the physical, language, and scientific requirements, he was admitted to the Institute at Khabarovsk, a sports university in his hometown. Regional institutes provide specialized training for sports professionals and coaches as well as academic disciplines.

Khabarovsk is three thousand miles from Moscow and on the eastern border near China. He enjoyed cross-country skiing and eventually worked up to 50 to 60 km a day. The three to four hour workouts in the forest were mentally relaxing and provided varied scenery. He believes these workouts account for his phenomenal aerobic capacity. At age twenty-six, he became a competitive runner. He trained in Belgium and raced in Europe, where races take place in the afternoon, resulting in a different style of training. As the Russian 10,000 meter champion (28:13), he made the 1988 Olympic team in Seoul, Korea.

Ten years later Kuznetsov was named the top male masters runner in the world. In 1998, he was the winner of the masters division at the Boston (2:15:26), Houston (2:16:45), Grandma’s (2:14:12), and Twin Cities (2:15:38) Marathons. He won the Jamaican (2:20:37) and Ocean State (2:17:58) Marathons outright. After the Jamaican Marathon, a complication with his visa prevented him from returning to the United States. With his belongings in Florida, he went to the snow-covered roads in Moscow. After convincing the American Embassy in Moscow to allow him to return to the U.S. a week before the Boston Marathon, he arrived in Boston unable to find a hotel room. He slept on a sofa in a hotel lobby and still managed a remarkable 2:15:27 performance. Other 1998 performances included the CVS-Cleveland 10K (29:53), SouthTrust Ten-Miler (50:27), and the Naples Daily News Half-Marathon (1:04:53).

As an officer in the Russian military, he frequently travels to Russia for military competitions and to train in the Russian forest. Most of his time is now spent in Rockville, MD, where he runs ten to twelve miles in the morning and four to six easy miles in the afternoon. When he’s not racing on the weekends, he will run sixteen to twenty miles on Saturday and Sunday. He also gets in a weekly speedwork session, typically 18 x 400m starting at 69 seconds and finishing at 62 seconds. Regularly logging 110 to 130 miles per week, he says jokingly, ‘‘the best part of being a runner is you really enjoy the jacuzzis and the beer.”

He especially enjoys the quantity of ten mile, 12K, and half-marathon races in the U.S. which help him prepare for the marathons. This year he has prevailed over his main rival, John Tuttle. This year’s races include Grandma’s Marathon (2:16:26), Crim 10-Miler (50:20), Falmouth (33:46), USO Defenders Ten Miler (51:13) after only five hours sleep and a Russian celebration the night before, Parkersburg Half-Marathon (1:07), and the Twin Cities Marathon (2:14:51).

Able to converse in English, he also drives himself to many regional races. Kuznetsov was influenced by the Belgian training system, and his training partners often turn to him for advice. Well tanned from training in Florida this past spring, and with the body of a twenty-year-old, he is well respected by his peers. At some point he plans to spend full time helping other runners. His lifestyle has kept him from his wife, Olga, a schoolteacher, and their two daughters for six months at a time. He plans to move his family to Rockville in the near future.

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