Gilbert Yegon won the Amsterdam Marathon in a world-class time. © Tom Metiary / Amsterdam Marathon
Kenya’s winning streak in the marathon continued at the Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday. A week after the Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru won Chicago and Geoffrey Mutai took the Eindhoven title, a Kenyan debutant at the distance won the most prestigious autumn race in the Netherlands: the 21-year-old Gilbert Yegon triumphed with a course record of 2:06:18 hours. The fastest woman in Amsterdam was the Ethiopian, Eyerusalem Kuma, who came home in 2:27:43. Approximately 9,000 runners took part with another 17,000 running shorter distance events held in conjunction with the marathon.
Because of their recent success, it is interesting to see what the Kenyan runners can achieve in Frankfurt next Sunday. The winners in Eindhoven and Amsterdam both run on the team managed by Gerard van de Veen. The Dutch manager is sending some of his best athletes to the race in Frankfurt am Main, including Jason Mbote and Gilbert Kirwa.
Just as Geoffrey Mutai did in Eindhoven, Gilbert Yegon ran strongly over the closing stages of the race. After the leading group went through halfway in 62:57 minutes, they clocked a very fast split of 1:29:38 hours for 30 kilometers. The group started to break up slowly after this point and at 35K (1:44:22) four athletes remained in contention. Apart from Gilbert Yegon, they were Elijah Keitany, Paul Biwott ,and Nicholas Chelimo—all from Kenya. Shortly afterwards, Yegon made the decisive move and soon established a clear lead. He ran a blazing14:48 for the split between 35 and 40K. In excellent conditions the young runner narrowly missed setting an even faster time, because he was suffering from a cramp in his thigh. “Without that problem I think I would have run under 2:06,” said Yegon, who celebrated the greatest triumph of his budding career, improving by two seconds the course record which had been set by the marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie four years ago. The Ethiopian had run 2:06:20 in the 2005 race.
The runners finishing behind Gilbert Yegon also achieved top-class performances. Elijah Keitany, another making his marathon debut, was second in 2:06:41. Paul Biwott finished third in 2:07:02. Teferi Wodajo (Ethiopia/2:07:45) and Nicholas Chelimo (Keya/2:07:46) all went under 2:08. Altogether eight runners ran sub-2:10.
The field in the women’s race was not as deep as the men’s. The lead pack was made up of three Ethiopian runners: Eyerusalem Kuma, Woinshet Girma, and Etalemahu Kidane. The decisive move in the women’s contest also came around 35K when Kuma broke away to finish in 2:27:43 for a clear win over Girma (2:29:50). Dutch runner Hilda Kibet came through in the closing stages to take third in 2:30:33. Kidane finished fourth on her debut in 2:31:11.
World Champion Xue Bai Wins HYX Beijing Marathon
World Champion Xue Bai wins the Beijing Marathon. © www.photorun.net
Xue Bai of China has won her second significant marathon within as many months. At the age of just 20, Bai won the Beijing Marathon—an event designated by the IAAF as a “Gold Label Race” and hence in the top category of road races. Because of the short recovery time between the World Championships and this marathon, Bai ran understandably slower, crossing the line in 2:34:44 hours. In cool and sometimes windy conditions, the Kenyan Samuel Mugo won the men’s title in the solid time of 2:08:20.
For much of the men’s race the lead pack was on pace to run a considerably faster performance than suggested by the winning time. Averaging approximately three minutes per kilometer, the pacemaker, Nicholas Manza (Kenya), was at the front of the leading group. They went through 10K in 30 minutes and Manza took them through 30K in exactly one hour and 30 minutes. At this stage he was followed by three men: Samuel Mugo, Rachid Kisri (Morocco) and Benson Barus (Kenya). The Moroccan was the first to drop off, falling back before 35K. The decisive moment came after 38K when Samuel Mugo was able to break away. The pacemaker, Nicholas Manza, had decided to stay in the race and finished with a highly creditable second place in 2:08:42. He was nine seconds faster than Barus while Kisri finished fourth in 2:09:36.
Xue Bai adopted tactics similar to those she employed in her World Championship triumph in Berlin. Bai held back for a long time, using her fast finish to come through in the closing kilometers and draw away from her rivals. “I knew I was fast over the last kilometers,” explained Bai to the IAAF’s Web site correspondent afterwards. Chinese runners also claimed the other leading places in the women’s race: Zhang Xin was second in 2:34:49 and Zhu Xiaoling finished third in 2:34:55.
Frankfurt Marathon Presents Amazing Quality Field
The forthcoming Frankfurt Marathon promises to deliver a spectacular, high-quality field. Fifteen runners with personal bests under 2:09 hours are expected to be on the start line when the 28th edition of the Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon gets underway this coming Sunday—an unprecedented statistic for a major German marathon.
In addition, the race has attracted more mass participants than ever before: the organizers, who will keep entries open till Saturday, are expected a record entry of around 13,000 runners for the marathon. The event on the river Main has shown a strong improvement in recent years and can now be regarded as definitely the second most-popular marathon in Germany next to Berlin.
If weather and pacemaking combine to create good conditions, we could see leading times in Frankfurt, which might even surpass Berlin this year. “If the weather is favorable, we’re hoping for a course record,” says elite race director Christoph Kopp. The course record is held by Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (Kenya) who ran 2:07:21 to win last year’s race. Taking this year’s field into consideration, a time of 2:06 cannot be ruled out.
Among the rivals, the 21-year-old Cheruiyot will toe the line against fellow countrymen Benjamin Kiptoo, winner in Rome in 2009 (Best time of 2:07:17), Hosea Rotich (2:07:24), and Jason Mbote (2:07:37). Yared Asmeron’s presence (Best time 2:08:34) means the Eritrean will be a contender. Asmeron finished fourth at the 2007 World Championships and eighth in the Olympic marathon last year. Prospects are also bright for the Vienna champion Gilbert Kirwa who ran 2:08:21 on his debut. Also in the running are last year’s runner-up, Wilson Kigen (2:08:16), and KIMbia’s Laban Kipkemboi (2:08:38), all from Kenya. Among those making their marathon debut is John Kiprotich (Kenya), who ran a world-class time of 59:23 minutes to finish sixth in the Rotterdam Half-Marathon in September. European hopes are led by Günther Weidlinger (Austria) who ran 2:12:39 on his marathon debut in Vienna in April.
The women’s field is also the strongest ever in Frankfurt. A dozen runners have best times under 2:30. The Kenyan pair of Rose Cheruiyot (Best time of 2:25:48) and Agnes Kiprop, who won Turin this spring in 2:26:22, will be running. Irene Limika (2:28:31) and Ruth Wanjiru (2:27:38) will also offer strong challenges from Kenya while from Ethiopia, Firehiowat Dado (2:27:08), the current champion in the Rome marathon, and Shitaye Debelu (2:26:10) are entered. Another Ethiopian is the fastest in the women’s field: Atsede Baysa ran 2:24:42 to win in Paris in April.
