MILWAUKEE, WI - Chris Roberdeau of Hartland, WI, will run Milwaukee1s Lakefront Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 5 in an effort to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials scheduled for February in Birmingham, AL.

Roberdeau needs to run the 26.2-mile course, from Grafton, WI to Milwaukee's Veteran1s Park, in 2 hours and 22 minutes to become eligible to compete in the Trials. And if that isn't a fast enough goal, he1d really like to beat a time of 2:20, which would enable him to receive travel reimbursements and funding. However, he needs to make a significant gain. His PR is 2:36:32, run at The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in 1999.

"I ran track while at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, but didn1t quite have what it took to reach the NCAA championships," said Roberdeau. "However, my running has improved since then and I've secured sponsorship from Saucony. Now I've set my sites on the time trials and maybe get to the Olympics after that. This has been my focus and I have trained very hard to make this dream a very real possibility."

Roberdeau is self-coached and currently runs more than 100 miles a week on area roads and trails and does speed work on a track. He also races in shorter events every few weeks to stay sharp. According to Roberdeau, "If I run a smart race and there are no mitigating factors such as poor weather or injury, I should qualify, no problem."

Among those warmup races were victories in two of Wisconsin's stronger events, the Cudahy 10-mile on Aug. 3 (54:18) and the Family YMCA Half-Marathon in Janesville on Sept. 6 (1:09:35).

A qualifying time is fast indeed, but not fast enough to break the course record. In 1981, Steve Benson, of Bloomington, MN, finished the Lakefront marathon in 2:14:09. The female record is 2:39:15 set by Nancy Mieszczak, of Buffalo, NY, in 1985.

People interested in registering for the Lakefront Marathon, the relay or volunteering are encouraged to visit the Lakefront Marathon Web site www.badgerlandstriders.org/lakefront, call the Lakefront Hot Line 414-291-2647 or e-mail: lfm@execpc.com.