Haile Gebrselassie with the AIMS trophy for the fastest marathon this year. © Jiro Mochizuki/AIMS/Great Ethiopian Run
Fresh off the heels of his world-record win in the Berlin Marathon two months ago (run in 2:03:59 hours), one of the greatest distance runners in the history of the sport, Haile Gebrselassie, won the 15 kilometer Great Australian Run in commanding style on Sunday in Melbourne. The Ethiopian broke the tape in 42:40 minutes. Gebrselassie is now preparing for next month’s Dubai Marathon—a pancake-flat marathon that offers him the best chance of breaking his own world record. A week ago, during the staging of the Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa, Haile Gebrselassie received an award from the Association of International Marathons and Road Races (AIMS) for what is currently the fastest marathon performance of the year.
Haile Gebrselassie’s strong performance was still over a minute slower than the 15K world record currently held by the Kenyan, Felix Limo (41:29), and over 30 seconds slower than this year’s fastest time run by Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea/42:02).
At the start of the race, the pack was comprised of three runners: the Australian favorite, Craig Mottram, Haile Gebrselassie, and the half-marathon world silver medalist, the Kenyan, Patrick Makau.
Mottram was the first to fall off, and then Gebrselassie picked up the pace with 4K remaining—leaving Makau behind. After the race, Gebrselassie had this to say: “I didn’t expect Makau to be so strong. That’s why I didn’t want to leave it to a sprint finish and pushed the pace after 11K.”
When asked about missing Felix Limo’s world record, Gebrselassie responded, “I didn’t feel that great, because I didn’t sleep properly [due to] jet lag. I made a mistake…I should have travelled five or six days earlier.”
Patrick Makau went on to place second in 43:15, ahead of the surprisingly strong performance by the Australian, Collis Birmingham (43:35). Craig Mottram took fourth in 44:08. The Austrian, Günther Weidlinger, ran well to finish fifth in 44:17.
In the women’s race, Catherine Ndereba proved her mettle. The Kenyan won a silver medal at the Olympics in August and was fifth in New York just four weeks ago. In Melbourne, she broke away from her rivals shortly before halfway and ran to a commanding victory in 50:43. “It was hard, but I managed to maintain the pace,” said Ndereba, who placed ahead of Alice Mason (New Zealand/51:27), Lisa Weightman (Australia/51:31), and Kaori Yoshida of Japan (51:44). The Australian, Benita Johnson, finished in fifth place in 52:09—one place ahead of the Olympic Marathon champion Constantina Dita Tomescu (Romania/52:33).
Almost 30,000 People Run Through Beirut
Alemayehu Shumye on the way to a course record in Beirut. © BLOM Beirut-Marathon
In a city once ravaged by war, the impossible happened Sunday: 30,000 runners turned out to race in the sixth annual Beirut Marathon!
The Ethiopian, Alemayehu Shumye, won the race—setting the course record in 2:12:47.
“There was no culture of running here at all when we staged the first Beirut Marathon in 2003,” said May El Khalil, the race’s founder. “At that time, we had around a thousand entries. Most didn’t have a clue how long a marathon was. Fortunately, we had a two-lap course so most of them could drop out after the first half. The 5 and 10K races grew in popularity and in the meantime many people have returned to run the marathon,” explained Mrs. El Khalil, who has had to overcome a constant series of unorthodox obstacles in order to pull off the race. For example: The course has been altered several times to avoid war-destroyed buildings and in 2006, the race was postponed due to the assassination of a government minister.
Fortunately, organizers don’t have these kinds of problems nowadays. “It’s quiet in Beirut now,” says the current race director, Mark Dickinson.
Sunday’s race was a major success. The 20-year-old, Alemayehu Shumye, announced beforehand that he would be going for the course record, 2:17:04, which had stood for five years. The Ethiopian crossed the line in 2:12:47 and said, “Haile Gebrselassie is the runner I look up to. I want to be as successful as him.”
Second and third place went to the Kenyan, Michael Kipkorir (2:16:15) and Hussen Adem (Ethiopia/2:16:44) respectively.
In the women’s race, it was an Ethiopian trifecta. Alemtsehay Hailu won, running 2:37:20. Tadelech Birra (2:37:58) placed second and Wudnesh Nega (2:39:09) placed third.
Lel and Wanjiru in London, Hall to Run Boston Marathon
Ryan Hall running the 2008 London Marathon. © Victah Sailer/www.photorun.net
The organizers of the two spring World Marathon Majors (Boston and London) have begun announcing their elite fields. In London, last year’s winner and course record holder Martin Lel (Kenya) and his compatriot Sammy Wanjiru, the Olympic champion in Beijing, will meet. Four athletes with personal bests under 2:06 will be on the starting line in London.
The organizers of the Boston Marathon have signed on one of the fastest non-African marathoners: the American Ryan Hall. He ran a personal best 2:06:17 in London earlier this year.
Martin Lel could become the first runner to win four times in London and the second person to ever achieve a hat-trick. (The Mexican, Dionicio Ceron, was the first person to win three consecutive times—from 1994 to 1996.) “I shall do my best to achieve this record. I am looking forward to the race because I have, of course, very happy memories of the Flora London Marathon,” said Lel who set the course marathon last April (2:05:15), making him the fourth-fastest marathon runner of all time.
Martin Lel’s strongest opponent in London could once again be the Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru who placed second there last April, running 2:05:24. Along with Wanjiru and Lel, there will be two more runners who have gone under 2:06 in London: the Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri (2:05:30) and the U.S. record holder, Khalid Khannouchi (2:05:36). Another four athletes with personal bests under 2:07 have also been signed up. There’s also a lot of anticipation around the marathon debut of Zersenay Tadese. The runner from Eritrea has won the World Road Championship three times in a row. He was also the World Cross Country champion in 2007, beating Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. “We have on paper the best field ever in the history of the race with eleven runners with personal bests under 2:08,” said the race director David Bedford.
Six days earlier, the 113th Boston Marathon will take place. Bostonians are hoping for the first American winner since Greg Meyer’s victory in 1983. “I’m delighted to have the chance to run the 2009 Boston Marathon,” Ryan Hall said and added: “Boston is the grandfather of the World Marathon Majors—winning here in Boston would mean as much for me as winning the Olympics. A success like that would show once and for all that American marathon running is back to the strength it had in its best days with [Alberto] Salazar, [Dick] Beardsley and [Bill] Rodgers. There’s nowhere better than Boston to show this.”
Ryan Hall got the world’s attention in 2007 when he became the first American to run under an hour for the half-marathon (59:43). On his marathon debut in London, he ran 2:08:24—faster than any previous American marathon debut. Ryan Hall finished an impressive tenth at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
