Meb Keflezighi showed his marathon fitness by winning the Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon in San Jose. © www.photorun.net
Kenyan runners led the way in the Portugal Half-Marathon last Sunday in Lisbon. Silas Sang won the men’s title in 60:20 minutes, while his compatriot, Helena Kirop, won the women’s race in 70:26. Also on the weekend, the American marathoner Meb Keflezighi won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon in San Jose, California in 61:00.
In the Portugal Half-Marathon, the winners of the past two years met: Silas Sang went to the start line as defending champion, while Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya) had won in 2007. It was an incredible contest. After 6 kilometers, both men passed Nicholas Kiprono (Uganda). They really went for it, breaking the course record in the process. The 31-year-old Silas Sang managed to build up a lead over the closing kilometers and won, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Mutai, who had finished runner-up in the World Championship marathon in Berlin six weeks before. Nicholas Kiprono took third place in 61:01.
The women’s race was narrowed down to three Kenyan runners early on as Helena Kirop, Florence Chepsoi, and Magdaline Chemjor contested the race at the front. The 33-year-old Kirop was the only one who managed to maintain the pace right to the finish, while the other two runners dropped off pace. Kirop crossed the line in 70:26. Helena Kirop is an experienced marathon runner who finished third in Berlin last year in 2:25:01 hours. Dulce Felix (Portugal) came through to finish second in Lisbon in 70:44. Her compatriot, Marisa Barros, took third place in 71:07. Finishing well down in fourth was Magdaline Chemjor in 71:55. The tenth edition of the race attracted a total entry of around 15,000.
Meb Keflezighi had a successful test run at the San Jose Half-Marathon before tackling the full distance in New York on November 1. The 35-year-old American, who won the Olympic silver medal in Athens in 2004, broke the finishing tape with a personal best of 61:00, finishing well clear of Bolota Asmerom (United States/63:06). Keflezighi improved his personal best by 25 seconds and broke the US 20K record en-route to victory with his split time of 57:52 minutes. This was two seconds faster than the old record set by Ryan Hall in 2006. The fastest woman was the Ethiopian, Belainesh Gebre, who won in 71:24 from the American Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (71:46).
Ruto Breaks Course Record in the Cologne Marathon; Mockenhaupt Wins Women’s Race
The 13th running of the Cologne Marathon was far from being bad luck for its organizers. For the first time in the history of the race, they achieved a winning time under 2:10 hours. It was even more of a surprise since the barrier was broken by a considerable margin. The Kenyan, Evans Ruto, won a narrow victory in 2:08:36 hours ahead of fellow countryman, Samson Bunge, who recorded the same time. Aadam Khamis (Bahrain) was third in 2:09:09. The third finisher also broke the old course record which had been set by the Kenyan Sammy Kurgat with 2:10:03 a year ago. The top three finishers in Cologne each set personal bests.
For Evans Ruto—not to be confused with the former world-class marathon runner Evans Rutto—this was the second victory in Germany this year. In May, he won the Hanover Marathon in 2:10:48, giving another demonstration of his finishing speed in winning by just one second.
Sabrina Mockenhaupt won the women’s title on her home course. Just six weeks after running the World Championship marathon, where she finished 17th in 2:30:07, the race in Cologne was tailor-made for her. “I knew it would be hard because there wasn’t much time between the two races,” said Mockenhaupt, who matched her Berlin time almost to the second with 2:30:12 in Cologne. Her closest pursuers were the Kenyans Rose Nyangacha and Prisca Kiprono who finished in 2:38:07 and 2:46:21 respectively. The race in Cologne attracted around 10,300 marathoners and, taking into account all the accompanying events, the organizers could show a record entry of over 32,000.
Baddeley and Rowbury Win Mile Races in New York
Andy Baddeley won the Fifth Avenue Mile in a close finish in New York. © www.photorun.net
Andy Baddeley from Britain and the American Shannon Rowbury won the traditional Fifth Avenue Mile in New York the previous weekend. The 29th edition of the race attracted a total entry of 3,793 runners including the youngest participant aged eight and the oldest ninety-three! In ideal conditions for running, spectators were rewarded with a thrilling contest to decide the winners.
A mere four-tenths-of-a-second separated the first three runners in the men’s race. The 27-year-old Andy Baddeley won the mile in 3:51.8 minutes from the Kenyan Boaz Lalang (3:52.0) and the American pair of Leonel Manzano (3:52.2) and Bernard Lagat (3:52.7). The victory added another prestigious win in the mile to his portfolio of success in New York for Baddeley, who finished ninth in the 2008 Olympic 1500-meter final. On the track in 2008, he won the “Dream Mile” at the Golden League meeting in Oslo so his victory on the road in the Fifth Avenue Mile marked another success over the same distance.
Shannon Rowbury put away any hopes of a British double in New York. The bronze medalist in the World Championship 1500m final had finished one place behind the Briton Lisa Dobriskey in Berlin. She turned the tables in New York. In the home stretch the 25-year-old edged ahead of three rivals to win in 4:23.3: Dobriskey was second in 4:23.9, followed by the American duo of Sara Hall (wife of the American marathoner Ryan) and Christin Wurth-Thomas.
