By Jörg Wenig
Tsegaye Kebede ran to victory in London. © www.photorun.net
Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia and Liliya Shobukhova of Russia won the men’s and women’s Virgin London Marathon on Sunday. Kebede’s winning time, 2:05:19, was the fourth-fastest marathon of the year. Finishing behind him was Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya/2:06:23) and Jaouad Gharib (Morocco/2:06:55). For the first time in the history of the race, a Russian won the women’s race. Liliya Shobukhova improved the fastest marathon time this year by four seconds, running 2:20:00 hours. The previous mark was held by Atsede Bayisa of Ethiopia. Fellow Russian Inga Abitova placed second (2:22:19) and Aselefech Mergia of Ethiopia was third (2:22:38).
The London Marathon’s flat and partly winding course leads runners through the districts of Blackheath, Charlton and Woolwich, across the Thames via the famous Tower Bridge, past the British Parliament to Buckingham Palace: the race’s finish. With temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, a record 36,946 marathoners participated in the race. Originally, 162,000 runners signed up to take part in England’s most famous marathon!
The marathon’s first running was in March, 1981. Since then, it has established itself not only as a place to run a fun, fast race, but also as a major fundraising event. More than three quarters of the participants run the race for a charity and a third of all guaranteed entries are offered by one of the more than 750 official charities. In addition, another 550 charities are guaranteed a starting billet every five years. Including this year, a total of more than $750M will have been raised by the charity runners at the London-Marathon. The London Marathon’s organizers also were able to raise over $53M for their own charity, which supported over the years more than 850 projects such as the construction of community sports facilities.
Liliya Shobukhova took first place in the women’s race. © www.photorun.net
Immediately after the Hungarian pacemaker Aniko Kalovics dropped out at the half-marathon point (70:56 minutes), Liliya Shobukhova took the lead of the women’s race and dictated the pace. “I prefer to run in the front, even if that means that I am a kind of pacemaker for the others,” said the 32-year-old Russian when she was asked why she moved to the front so early in the race.
After 30K (1:41:08), the lead pack began to thin. Xue Bai, the Chinese world champion in 2009, was one of these runners. She eventually finished seventh in 2:25:18. Olympic champion Constantina Dita (Romania) and U.S. record holder Deena Kastor also couldn’t maintain Liliya Shobukhova’s pace. By 35 kilometers there were only four runners in contention: Inga Abitova, Aselefech Mergia, and Bezunesh Bekele (Ethiopia) trailed the Russian leader. Bekele eventually finished fourth in 2:23:17. Shobukhova continued to increase the pace as each kilometer passed. With 2K to go, she put on the final surge which guaranteed her victory. “My next marathon target is the Olympic gold medal in 2012,” an elated Liliya Shobukhova said afterwards.
Thirty-seven-year-old returning champion Irina Mikitenko’s quest to win her third victory in a row came to an end at the 18K mark. The German marathoner had to drop out at that point due to muscular problems in the lower shin and ankle. “I am very disappointed, but that is something which could happen in any marathon,” said Irina Mikitenko afterwards. The roads, which were slippery from the rain at the beginning of the race, made her problem worse. By 15K Irina Mikitenko briefly stopped. “I then tried to slow down the pace a little bit, but that didn’t work…now, that is mentally more painful than physically,” she said. In her five previous marathon races she never placed below second. In 2008 and 2009, she was the world’s fastest marathoner and currently owns the German national record (2:19:19) which she set in Berlin two years ago.
In the World Marathon Majors (WMM) series Irina Mikitenko took first place in 2008 and 2009. Liliya Shobukhova’s victory Sunday now puts her ahead of the German. Shobukhova‘s victory didn’t come unexpected, however. At 32 years of age she’s the European record holder in the 5K (14:23.75). She made her debut in London last year and placed third. In October 2009 she won the Chicago Marathon ahead of Irina Mikitenko who placed second.
In the men’s race, the leaders reached the half-marathon point in 63:06. Tsegaye Kebede and the marathon world champion of Berlin 2009, Abel Kirui, had set the initial pace. Sammy Wanjiru, the Olympic champion and course record holder, had to drop out after 27K due to a knee problem. Other runners couldn’t keep up the pace and so the pack began to thin further after the half. By the time the leaders reached the former London docks, it came down to a duel between Tsegaye Kebede und Abel Kirui. By 30K (1:28:46 hours), the two were neck-and-neck. Emmanuel Mutai was six seconds behind.
With 10K to go, Kebede, the former bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 World Championships, made the race’s decisive move, which secured his win. At last year’s race Sammy Wanjiru was the only runner who defeated him. Sunday’s victory was the greatest success of the 23-year-old’s career. “Without the rain I might have been even faster and perhaps I even could have reached a time below 2:05 hours,” said the winner, who missed his best of 2:05:18 hours by only one second. Behind Emmanuel Mutai, Jaouad Gharib, and Bouramdane Aberrahime (Morocco/2:07:33) Abel Kirui finished fifth in 2:08:04. The half-marathon world record holder, Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea), finished seventh in 2:12:03.
Because of his London victory, Tsegaye Kebede is now tied with Sammy Wanjiru in the WMM-Series 2009-2010. Both have 50 points, and it will come down to which runner has a better fall marathon in Berlin, Chicago, or New York later this year.
