Tsegay Kebede breaks away from his competitors. © www.photorun.net
A young Ethiopian, Tsegay Kebede (just 21 years old!) won the Fukuoka Marathon on Sunday. His time, blazing 2:06:10 hours on a cool day, set a new course record—an improvement of 29 seconds and the 12th fastest marathon ever run. The previous course record was held by the Olympic champion, Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, who had set it last year. This was a promising race for Kebede; it has established him as one of the world’s best marathoners.
Second place went to Satoshi Irifune of Japan. He crossed the line in 2:09:23 which qualified him for the World Championships in Berlin next year. Fellow countrymen Arata Fujiwara and Tomoyuki Sato took third and fourth respectively. Their times of 2:09:47 and 2:09:59 were under 2:10—also good for the World Championship team.
Felix Limo was the top-placing Kenyan; he placed fifth in 2:10:59. Sixth place went to the Spaniard, Jose Manuel Martinez, in 2:11:11. Martinez was the fastest European runner in Fukuoka’s men’s race.
After the rabbits had taken the big group of favorites through halfway in 1:04:02 and 25 kilometers in 1:15:49, the pace increased dramatically. The leading runners ran kilometer splits well under three minutes. But no one could match Tsegay Kebede. When John Kales, the race’s last pacemaker, dropped out at 30K, the Ethiopian picked up the pace. Kebede ran the next 5K in an astounding 14:17 minutes! Putting this amazing 5K split into perspective: When Haile Gebrselassie set the world record in Berlin last September, he never ran a 5K split as fast as Kebede’s 14:17 on Sunday.
This huge injection of pace assured Tsegay Kebede of the win. At 35K, the Ethiopian’s lead was over 70 seconds. The gap continued to increase until it was over three minutes.
The 21-year-old Kebede made his debut on the international stage just last year when he ran 2:08:16 at the Amsterdam Marathon. In April, he won the Paris Marathon, improving his best to 2:06:40. He won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing, running 2:10:00. His stunning victory in Fukuoka now makes him one of the favorites for the World Championships in Berlin next year.
World Champion Kibet Wins Singapore Marathon
Luke Kibet prevails in difficult conditions at the Singapore Marathon. © Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon
The World Marathon champion from Osaka in 2007, Luke Kibet, once again showed that he can run in difficult conditions. The 25-year-old Kenyan won the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and set a course record in brutal heat and humidity. His time of 2:13:01 beat the old mark by nearly 90 seconds.
His compatriot, Edith Masai, was an equally commanding winner of the women’s race. The winner of numerous World Cross-Country titles, Masai crossed the line in 2:34:15.
The race is one of the biggest and best organized races in the region. Despite the tough weather conditions, the event attracted approximately 50,000 participants on Sunday. 15,000 ran the marathon while 35,000 took part in either the 10K or the half-marathon. Hoping to give runners relief from the weather, the organizers set the start time for the race at 5:30 in the morning.
A sizeable group of Kenyan runners shared the lead up to halfway. Shortly afterwards, Luke Kibet took the lead. The only one able to follow him was a pacemaker: Johnstone Chepkwony. The Kenyan decided during the race that he wouldn’t drop out. “I knew I couldn’t beat Luke Kibet, but wanted to keep running,” explained Chepkwony. The Kenyan’s gutsy display paid off: his second-place showing was good for $19,000. Chepkwony ran 2:15:12 which was three seconds ahead of Amos Matui (Kenya) who had won the race in 2005 and 2006.
“I’ve shown I’m back. Setting a course record in these conditions gives me a lot of satisfaction,” said Luke Kibet, who collected $35,000 dollars in prize money. He made a decisive break from Johnstone Chepkwony at 32K and built on his lead from there. “It’s never easy winning a marathon—but I felt good. I held back during the first half of the race,” explained Luke Kibet who also won the 2007 Vienna Marathon.
At the age of 41, Edith Masai is still in top form. She ran the race aggressively. At the half-marathon point, her only rival at the front was the Russian, Silvia Skvortsova. “I felt good so I finally left her [Skvortsova] behind at 30K,” said Masai afterwards. Skvortsova ended up placed second in 2:37:10. Third place went to the Kenyan, Rose Chesire, who ran 2:42:39.
“As long as I can still keep going, I shall continue to race,” Edith Masai announced in the post-race press conference. Her reward for winning was $35,000.
Mikitenko Against Radcliffe in London
It’s official: Germany’s marathon champion and winner of the 2007-2008 World Marathon Majors Series, Irina Mikitenko, will toe the line against the current world-record holder, Paula Radcliffe at the Flora London Marathon next year. She will also race against Olympic Champion Constantina Tomescu-Dita and the two-time Olympic silver medalist Catherine Ndereba.
In addition to this stacked field, Zhou Chunxiu (China), Martha Tomu (Kenya) and Mara Yamauchi (Great Britain) will be running. In Beijing they finished third, fifth and sixth respectively.
“I look forward to seeing how this race turns out. With a field of this strength you can’t make predictions,” commented Mikitenko who improved her personal best to 2:19:19 in Berlin. “I shall prepare myself as well as I can and hope to stay free of injury so I can give my best in London. Then we’ll see what’s possible.” Thanks to her wins in London and Berlin, Irina Mikitenko currently has the outright lead in the WMM Series 2008-2009 with 50 points.
“This is unquestionably the best field we’ve ever had for the women’s race in London. Nine women have run under 2:22,” said race director David Bedford.
