Paul Tergat is back with his first marathon victory since 2005. © www.photorun.net
Paul Tergat made a successful comeback by winning the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan on Sunday. The 39-year-old Kenyan, who became the first to run under 2:05 hours for the marathon (2:04:55 in Berlin in 2003), won in 2:10:22. It was Tergat’s first win in the marathon since his New York triumph in 2005. Since then, he has taken time off for injury as well as for service in the Kenyan armed forces.
Despite time away from racing, he still showed his ability to win a marathon. The decisive moment at Lake Biwa came late in the race—at the 40-kilometer mark. Nearing the finish, Tergat broke away from his Spanish rival, Jose Rios, who had twice won the Lake Biwa Marathon. When he first arrived in the stadium, Paul Tergat began an early celebration and didn’t realize that he still had a lap to run. However, his lead over Rios was still big enough that Rios couldn’t capitalize on Tergat’s miscalculation. Rios ended up placing second in 2:10:36 hours. Third place went to Yarid Asmeron of Eritrea in 2:10:49.
After the race, Tergat had this to say about his win: “I still feel tired from jet lag and it was quite windy today. I’m happy and feel optimistic for the future, having been able to win a race with a good level of competitors.” He intends to next run a 10K race in Dublin on April 5th in Ireland.
Anna Incerti Faster than Irina Mikitenko in Rome
Italian runner Anna Incerti, last year’s champion at the Milan Marathon, ended Irina Mikitenko’s unbeaten streak when she won the Ostia Half-Marathon in Rome in 69:24 minutes this weekend. Mikitenko, who runs for the German TV Wattenscheid club, had been unbeaten in her seven races last year and had won the World Marathon Majors Series. She finished third in 71:01. Second place went to the French runner, Christelle Daunay, who ran an impressive 70:30. Fourth place went to Rosaria Console of Italy (73:20).
“The course was like a mountain race, it just kept going up and up. I hadn’t prepared for that,” said Irina Mikitenko afterwards. Mikitenko kept upbeat about her performance, however. “That was good training with the unexpected strength work on the hills. On a more normal course I would have to be able to run around a minute faster. It’s fine for this stage in my preparation. If I were running 68 minutes now, then something would be wrong in my build-up for the London Marathon,” she explained. Mikitenko will be on the starting line at London on April 26 as the defending champion. Among her rivals will be the world-record holder for the marathon, Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain). Like Tergat, Mikitenko will also run a 10K race before her next marathon.
In the men’s race, it was all Kenyans at the front. Elijah Keitany won in 60:59 ahead of his compatriots Evans Cheruiyot (61:07) and Stephen Kibet (61:19).
Vivian Cheruiyot Wins in San Juan
Vivian Cheruiyot ended Lornah Kiplagat’s impressive winning streak at the World Best 10K. The Kenyan won in San Juan, Puerto Rico with an excellent time of 31:12, giving her a 33-second advantage over Kiplagat. Lornah Kiplagat, who was born in Kenya but is now a Dutch citizen, had won this prestigious road race on the last five occasions and six times in total.
The 25-year-old winner, Vivian Cheruiyot, who had won the silver in the 5000 meter at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, also beat a whole range of top athletes in San Juan. She broke away from Kiplagat in the second half of the race after Dire Tune had already faded. Tune, an Ethiopian and recent winner of the prestigious Ras Al Khaimah Half-Marathon, finished third in 31:55. American runner Shalane Flanagan, the Olympic 10,000m bronze medal winner in Beijing, took fourth place in 32:55.
Kenyans again dictated events in the men’s race. They took the first four places, each with times under 28 minutes. The winner was Sammy Kitawara in 27:26. Silas Kipruto and Wilson Kipsang both clocked 27:45 for second and third place respectively. Sammy Kosgei was fourth in 27:49. He was followed across the line by Moses Kipsiro (Uganda) in 28:01. Both the men’s and women’s winning times were the fastest in the world this year for the distance.
Meseret Defar’s Latest World Indoor Record
The Ethiopian Meseret Defar has broken her second world indoor record in eight days! What an incredible feat! She won the 2-mile race at the meet in Prague on Thursday evening, setting a time of 9:06.26 minutes which was over four seconds faster than her own record run more than a year ago in Boston (9:10.50).
“It was my goal to set three world records in the indoor season. I missed one of them but it’s not a bad effort,” said Defar, who ran 14:24.37 for 5,000m in Stockholm last week. She narrowly missed the 3,000m record at a meeting in Stuttgart at the beginning of February. The world record in Prague was the ninth of Meseret Defar’s career.
Initially it didn’t really seem as if a world record was on the cards in Prague. The pacemaker, Ksenia Agafonova from Russia, set too slow a pace at the front. They reached the first mile in only 4:38 minutes. “Right then I thought, I’ll never do it,” recalled Defar but she went on to run the second half in an impressive 4:29. She wants to defend her 5,000m title at the World Championships in Berlin in August.
Two further world bests for the year were set at this inaugural Prague meet. Ismail Ahmed Ismail (Sudan) won the 800-meter race in 1:44.75, the fourth fastest time ever indoors. Only the world record-holder, Wilson Kipketer (Denmark), the 2004 Olympic champion, Yuri Borzakovskiy (Russia), and the Kenyan, Joseph Mutua, have run faster. The Ethiopian, Abreham Cherkos, won the 5,000m in 13:07.83 in a duel with the Kenyan steeplechaser, Paul K. Koech (13:09.37).
