Haile Gebrselassie goes for his world record in Dubai in difficult conditions. © Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
Haile Gebrselassie entered the Dubai Marathon on Friday to break his own world record of 2:03:59 hours, but the conditions took him by surprise. A combination of torrential rain, wind, and chilly temperatures made it nearly impossible to run world-record pace.
Despite such unusual weather in Dubai, Gebrselassie, 35 years old, emerged as the clear winner, running a blazing 2:05:29: the eighth-fastest performance of all time! He now owns four of the top eight marathons ever run—an incredible achievement.
There was also a clear-cut champion in the women’s race: Bezunesh Bekele, 25 years old, of Ethiopia. She won in 2:24:02. Each champion received $250,000 in prize money—the biggest purse ever for a marathon.
“That’s the best I’ve ever run in weather like that,” Gebrselassie said after the race. In the 2006 London Marathon, he was relegated to ninth place because of similar conditions. “I can’t run my best in the rain. The problem isn’t that I get wet, rather that the road gets slippery,” Gebrselassie pointed out.
The skies opened up just after the lead pack crossed the 5-kilometer mark, while the temperature gauge showed 54 degrees Fahrenheit. But Gebrselassie remained on world-record pace despite these early conditions. In contrast to the previous year when his world record attempt in Dubai did not occur because he went out to fast, the Ethiopian was right on target this time. With an escort of pacemakers alongside him, Gebrselassie reached halfway in 61:45 minutes—19 seconds faster than his split in Berlin when he set the world record at the end of September.
Shortly before the turnaround, Haile Gebrselassie realized it was going to be tough to break the world record. “The pacemakers did a perfect job but after the turn, I felt we were running into the wind and knew we were unlikely to break the record. Then I saw the black clouds up ahead,” explained Gebrselassie in the post-race press conference.
Despite his initial pessimism, Gebrselassie was still on world-record pace at 30K by half a minute. But when the last pacemakers dropped out at 32K and the rain began to pelt the course, Gebrselassie slowed down considerably. In the last 10K, he was running over three-minute kilometer splits—not good enough. “When I found out rain was forecast for this morning, I thought it was going to be difficult to break the record. I would lose too much power, running in the rain and that’s what happened,” he later explained.
Haile Gebrselassie’s margin of victory was a big one: Deressa Edae Chimsa was second in 2:07:54, followed by Eshetu Wendimu (2:08:41), Gashaw Melese (2:10:59) and Dereje Tesfaye (2:11:42)—all Ethiopians.
The women’s race was also dominated by Ethiopians, although last year’s winner, Berhane Adere, was not in the top three. Regardless, she still finished a respectable seventh in 2:27:47. In contrast, Bezunesh Bekele, no relation to the world-record holder Kenenisa Bekele, ran strong in 2:24:02. At 30K, she broke away with Helena Kirop (Kenya/2:25:35) who would eventually finish third. Two kilometers later, Bekele broke clear of the Kenyan. Atsede Habtamu (Ethiopia) came through to take second place in the closing stages of the race in 2:25:17. The Russian, Tatyana Petrova, was fourth in 2:25:53.
No World Championships in Berlin for Gebrselassie
Contrary to expectations, Haile Gebrselassie is unlikely to run in the World Championships this August. “I don’t think I’ll be at the World Championships in Berlin,” he explained in radio interviews with BBC World Service and Voice of America following his victory in Dubai.
As recently as the end of September, Gebrselassie had said after his world record in Berlin: “Berlin is a happy hunting ground for me. Sometimes it works out that you are more successful in some places than others. That’s the way it is for me in Berlin, I did a very good performance in a marathon relay here as a junior when the Ethiopian team won. Then I had success on the track at the ISTAF meeting and then came the Berlin Marathon. Running in Berlin for me is like running in front of my home crowd. That’s why I’ll be running the World Championships here.”
Unfortunately, Gebrselassie has changed his plans. As he nears the waning stages of his extraordinary career, his priority has clearly been to improve his world marathon record as much as possible rather than chase medals at the major championships. Such times are only possible in big-city marathons that contain packs of pacemakers. Gebrselassie even decided against running the Olympic Marathon in 2008 in order to make what proved to be a successful attack on the world record in a race that was set up exactly for this purpose.
Gebrselassie is worried that the best Kenyans, led by the Olympic champion, Sammy Wanjiru, will be able to break the all-important world marathon record. “As ever, what’s important for me is the time. Perhaps I won’t be able to run under 2:03 hours, but I know I can bring the world record down to 2:03:20 or 2:03:30 at least,” explained Gebrselassie. He added: “I’ve run so many World Championships. That’s why I’m not really thinking about the World Championships. But I shall be returning to Berlin to run the Berlin Marathon.”
Ethiopians Break Records in Houston
Deriba Merga breaks the 20-year-old course record in Houston. © www.photorun.net
The 37th annual running of the Houston Marathon on Sunday was full of drama. Deriba Merga, an Ethiopian marathon pro, succeeded in breaking a 20-year-old course record—running 2:07:52 hours mostly solo. It was an incredible performance and the first sub-2:10 hours in the marathon’s long history.
But the record breaking didn’t stop with the men. Another Ethiopian, Teyba Erkesso, chipped 22 seconds off the women’s record by running 2:24:18. There was also a record of participants: 23,000 runners competed in either the full marathon or the shorter distance events held in conjunction with the marathon.
Going into the race, Deriba Merga was the clear favorite. He placed fourth in the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. In the spring of 2008, he had improved his personal best to 2:06:38 at the Flora London Marathon.
After the gun, Merga took off like a rocket. Helped by pacemakers from time to time, he reached the half in 1:02:44—record-setting pace. Before the race, Merga had stated that his main objective was to break the record for the fastest marathon on U.S. soil: Khalid Khannouchi’s 2:05:42 that was run at the1999 Chicago Marathon. But Deriba Merga had a hard time running solo. After the race, he had this to say: “I really tried to break the record. But sometimes the wind would get up and that’s tough when you’re running on your own. I’ll do better next year.” Even though he didn’t break Khannouchi’s record, Merga still finished over a kilometer ahead of the second place runner, Benson Cheruiyot (Kenya/2:1:33). The Russian, Yuriy Abramov, was third in 2:12:21. The former course record of 2:10:04 held by Richard Keitany (Kenya) had stood for 20 years.
Like Deriba Merga, the women’s champion Teyba Erkesso also received a $10,000 bonus for breaking the course record in addition to $35,000 for first place. It was Erkesso’s marathon debut. She ran the race with a male pacemaker and like Merga, led from the front and was never threatened. She crossed the half in 1:12:23 and then picked up the pace. Second place went to the Romanian, Nuta Olaru, in 2:27:25. Lyudmila Kortchaguina (Canada) was third in 2:30:43.
Meb Keflezighi won the half-marathon which was held in conjunction with the marathon and also served as the U.S. Championships. It marked a successful return for the 33 year old after an absence from racing due to injury. The American controlled the race from the beginning and finished in 61:25 minutes—10 seconds ahead of Dathan Ritzenhein. Brett Gotscher was third in 62:09. “The field had a lot of talented runners. It’s a great way for me to start the New Year after I spent 2008 injured. I hope that 2009 turns out to be a better year for me,” said Keflezighi who was second in the 2004 Olympic Marathon in Athens. Magadalena Boulet (USA) came out on top in the women’s race in Houston (71:47) ahead of her compatriots Kelly Jaske (72:06) and Colleen de Reuck (72:16).
