Gete Wami © www.photorun.net
Ethiopians dominated at the Great North Run on Sunday. Tsegay Kebede won the men’s race, running 59:45, while Gete Wami overcame thigh problems in the last 6 kilometers and won the women’s race by a narrow margin in 68:51.The half-marathon, which starts in Newcastle in Northeast England and finishes on the coast at South Shields, is an undulating course with a slight net drop in elevation. It’s the largest half-marathon in the world, drawing over 52,000 runners.
After 7 kilometers, Tsegay Kebede increased the pace and broke free of the leading group. Running alone, he maintained a strong pace right to the end. “I thought I could run even faster,” commented the 21-year-old after setting a personal best and securing the 14th fastest half-marathon time in the world this year.
His victory at the Great North Run was one the biggest of his young career—a career that has garnered him a win at the Paris Marathon last year and a surprise bronze medal in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Fellow Ethiopian Gebre Gebremariam placed second in 61:29 and third place went to the American Abdi Abdirahman in 61:33. The world marathon champion Luke Kibet finished fourth in 61:34.
Gete Wami ran an exciting race that went right down the wire. In the last mile, it looked as if Jo Pavey (Great Britain) could become the first British winner since Paula Radcliffe in 2003 to win the race. But Wami surged ahead of her and the Kenyan Magdalena Mukunzi to win the race by one second! Mukunzi finished in 68:52 and Pavey was third in 68:53.
“This is a big win, I had done special training sessions to prepare for the Great North Run,” explained Wami, who won the WMM 2006-2007 series. When asked for her opinion about Paula Radcliffe running in New York, where Wami narrowly lost to her last year, she said: “She is a tough opponent and I enjoy running against her. But I’m surprised she is running New York.”
Wami is now aiming to win or place second at the New York Marathon on November 2 in order to take the World Marathon Majors (WMM) 2007-2008 series ahead of Irina Mikitenko of Germany.
Jo Pavey was upbeat about her race. “I was happy about my personal best yet frustrated at the same time to have lost by such a close margin. But today was a big step forward for me,” Pavey said.
Sammy Kurgat sets course record with 2:10:03 in Cologne
Sammy Kurgat © www.photorun.net
Kenya’s Sammy Kurgat won the Cologne Marathon, setting a course record of 2:10:03 while defeating fellow Kenyan and defending champion Daniel Too. In the women’s race, the young Ethiopian, Robe Guta, ran a career best, dipping under 2:30 for the first time with a 2:29:39. In the half-marathon, the German runner, Sabrina Mockenhaupt, set a personal best with an impressive 68:51.
The field of 10,000 runners made this the fourth-largest German marathon behind Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt. For the first time, the half-marathon had more entries than the marathon (11,000). Another 5,000 athletes competed in other events on Sunday in wet and cool conditions.
The 33 year-old Sammy Kurgat in the front pack, which was comprised of ten runners. They passed the half-way mark in 64:32. At 30K (1:31:55) there were still eight runners in the lead, but one by one they dropped back. Kurgat also slowed down but, had a comfortable lead and finished more than half a minute in front of Daniel Too (2:10:37). Thomas Chemitei was third in 2:11:20. Kenyans dominated the men’s race, taking the first six places and eight of the first ten.
Sammy Kurgat, whose personal best of 2:08:38 was set in Frankfurt in 2007, improved the four-year-old course record of fellow Kenyan James Rotich by 19 seconds. Rotich had run 2:10:22 in 2004. Kurgat was initially supposed to run the Frankfurt Marathon on 26th October, but a coaching change caused him to run Cologne instead.
In the women’s race, a duel between Robe Guta and Germany’s Luminita Zaituc developed soon after the start. The two passed the half-marathon point in 1:13:56 and reached 30K in 1:45:43. The Ethiopian, almost 20 years younger than Zaituc, held on to win in 2:29:39. Prior to this, Guta’s personal best had been 2:33:44 which was set in Dubai in January. But she has also run an impressive 67:46 half-marathon in 2007.
Luminita Zaituc’s 2:30:00 second-place time qualifies her for next year’s World Championships in Berlin. She will turn 40 next Thursday—making her eligible for the masters’ category in future races. Third place went to Alem Gebreezgi of Ethiopia in 2:39:09.
Meanwhile, in the half-marathon, Sabrina Mockenhaupt ran her first sub-70-minute race of her career. She was the only elite athlete running the half-marathon and was guided by pacemaker Oliver Mintzlaff.
Her impressive time of 68:51 puts the 27-year-old alongside Irina Mikitenko at the top of the German rankings for the season. The race should be a great boost for her prospects in her second marathon: the Frankfurt Marathon which is in three weeks. On that fast course she should be able to bring her time down to 2:26.
Haile to run Dubai, Paula in New York Marathon
The next races of the marathon world-record holders have been confirmed: Haile Gebrselassie will return to the Dubai Marathon (January 16th) and Paula Radcliffe will run the New York Marathon (November 2nd) as a returning champion.
Last Sunday, Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon, becoming the first to run under 2:04 as the Ethiopian improved his own world record by 27 seconds to 2:03:59. Haile Gebrselassie thinks he can improve even more on Dubai’s pancake-flat course which has little or no incline or descent and is practically a straight course with no corners: “I think I can run 2:03:30; maybe even 2:02:59, if the conditions are perfect,” he said. In the build-up to the Berlin Marathon Gebrselassie had suffered from calf problems but they didn’t affect him in the race.
Last January in Dubai while going for the world record, Gebrselassie went out too fast .Yet he still ran a 2:04:53 which is currently the third-fastest performance of all time. The Sheikdom of Dubai is offering a bonus of one million dollars for a world record and $250,000 for victory.
Paula Radcliffe is aiming to win the New York Marathon for the third time on November 2 following her success in 2004 and 2007. The British runner, who holds the world record of 2:15:25, has fond memories of the Big Apple. In 2004, she triumphed after a difficult race at the Olympic Games in Athens where she dropped out after starting the race as favorite. In 2007, she made a comeback after giving birth to her child.
