Tirunesh Dibaba made a huge comeback, running a 15K world record. © www.photorun.net
The 24-year-old Ethiopian, Tirunesh Dibaba, made an impressive return to competition with a victory on a course that included seven hills. She won the 15-kilometer Seven Hills Run in Nijmegen, Holland running 46:28 minutes, which was a 27-second improvement to the world record. The double Olympic champion—winner of the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events in Beijing—wasn’t able to run at this year’s World Championships because of injury. Her performance in Nijmegen proved that she was back in top form. It was a great day for the Dibaba family, because her husband, Sileshi Sihine, won the men’s race in 42:14. He also had been unable to run the World Championships because of injury so this was another impressive return to competition. Around 24,000 runners took part in the Fortis Seven Hills Run.
Dibaba, who was only able to run three 5,000m races in the outdoor season, set her own pace from the start to leave the rest of the field far behind. Each 5K split was progressively faster, although the course profile may have had something to do with that. The race starts and finishes at about 66 feet above sea level. The highest point of the seven hills on the course is over 260 feet high. Taking into account the demanding nature of the course, Dibaba’s performance was all the more impressive. She went through 5K in 15:58 and 10K in 31:23. She needed just 15:05 for the final 5K. Tirunesh Dibaba finished well clear of fellow Ethiopian Bezunesh Bekele (47:48) and Tetyana Holovchenko (Ukraine/50:33).
The Japanese, Kayoko Fukushi, was the previous holder of the world best for 15K. She set the mark (46:55) during the Marugame Half-Marathon (Japan) in 2003. Paula Radcliffe of Britain had also run 46:41 minutes for the 15K in 2003. But the course of the Great North Run in Newcastle (Great Britain) has an unallowable drop from start to finish hence results from that race cannot be officially recognized for world records. The Kenyan, Lydia Cheromei, had held the course record in Nijmegen with 47:02.
The outcome of the men’s race in the Seven Hills Run turned into a much closer contest. Sileshi Sihine, so often a runner-up at Olympics and World Championships over 10,000m, broke away early in the race and at 5K had established a lead of seven seconds ahead of Nicholas Kiprono (Uganda), Abraham Rotich (Kenya) and Ayele Abshiro (Ethiopia) but the chasing pack closed the gap and Sihine was unable to shake them. The contest turned into a thrilling sprint for the line between the 26-year-old Ethiopian and Nicholas Kiprono. Both were clocked with a 42:14, but it was Sihine who was judged the winner from Kiprono at the finish. Abraham Rotich was third in 43:04, followed by Ayele Abshiro in 43:10.
Over 43,000 Finishers in New York
The 40th edition of the ING New York City Marathon on November 1 has become the largest marathon of all time: a total of 43,475 runners crossed the finish line in Central Park. The race organizers, the New York Road Runners, have just announced these final figures. No marathon has ever had more than 40,000 finishers.
A total of 43,741 runners began the race in New York, which means that 99.4% finished. The 2007 New York Marathon had the previous highest total of finishers with 38,557. Various editions of the New York race occupy the top six places in the rankings. The 100th edition of the Boston Marathon of 1996 is in seventh place which recorded 35,868 finishers and was the number one for a long time. The 2008 Berlin Marathon is eighth with 35,783 and London in 2007 follows on ninth place with 35,700.
New York this year had entry requests from 102,486 runners. But in this particular ranking that total is far exceeded by another race: an incredible 310,000 runners tried to enter the Tokyo Marathon! To deal with this overwhelming demand, race organizers used a lottery to decide start number assignments for the race this March in Japan.
Inga Abitova of Russia Wins Yokohama Marathon
The lead pack making their way through the streets of Yokohama. © www.photorun.net
One month after Liliya Shobukova’s victory in Chicago, another Russian woman has stepped forward to win a large-city marathon against a tough field: 27-year-old Inga Abitova ran 2:27:18 hours in warm temperatures of around 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sunday marked the first time that Yokohama had staged an elite women’s marathon. The reason for this was that a year ago the long established women’s race in Tokyo was held for the final time. The Japanese capital now has a marathon for elite and mass runners alike which takes place in March. There used to be two marathons for elite runners in Tokyo—one for the men in February and another for women in November. The new Yokohama Marathon replaces the autumn edition in Tokyo.
Its debut was of suitably high quality. Alongside the reigning Olympic champion Constantina Dita (Romania) at the start was the Olympic runner-up and double World marathon champion Catherine Ndereba (Kenya). However, the Olympic gold medalist was unable to play any part in the decisive phase of the race. Dita finished eleventh in 2:36:06.
Shortly before 30K, Abitova began to push the pace, which broke up the lead pack. Only Catherine Ndereba was able to go with the Russian for a few more kilometers, but the Kenyan then had to drop off the pace. Inga Abitova, the reigning European 10,000m champion and sixth over the same distance at the 2008 Olympics, extended her lead with every kilometer. She crossed the line in 2:27:18 ahead of Kiyoko Shimahara (2:28:51). Ndereba placed third in 2:29:13. Bruna Genovese of Italy finished fourth in 2:29:57.
