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2009 Results/Recap/Video - Flora London Marathon

Published by
Shane   Apr 26th 2009, 3:51pm
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Flora London Marathon

Official Site

Finish Videos (Men - Women)

MIKITENKO, WANJIRU PREVAIL AT FLORA LONDON MARATHON
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

LONDON (26-Apr) -- Germany's Irina Mikitenko and Kenya's Samuel Wanjiru prevailed at the 29th Flora London Marathon here today, each ending up dominant winners despite facing credible challenges late in the race.

Mikitenko, the defending champion, followed pacemaker Aniko Kalovics of Hungary in the early miles.  By the fourth mile (21:19), a small lead group had formed, with Mikitenko, Britain's Mara Yamauchi, China's Zhou Chunxiu and Japan's Miki Okunaga clearly separated from the rest of the field.  The pace was honest, but not too fast, predicting about a 2:20 finish time.

Okunaga was dropped in the seventh mile, and Kalovics wilted before the halfway mark.  That left Mikitenko, Zhou and Yamauchi together through halfway in 1:10:53.  Zhou, who had a sore throat and cough during the week leading up to the race, was next to crack, and was 50 meters down at the 17th mile mark; the Olympic bronze medalist would finish 12th.  This left Mikitenko and Yamauchi, running several minutes under her personal best pace, to battle for the win.

In the 19th mile, Mikitenko eased away from Yamauchi and locked up the victory.  With Buckingham Palace behind her, she won her second consecutive Flora London Marathon easily in 2:22:11.  Yamauchi set a huge personal best in second, clocking 2:23:12, confirming her status as Britain's second-fastest marathoner of all-time before Paula Radcliffe.  Third place went to Russian debutante Liliya Shobukova, who emerged from the second pack to clock 2:24:24.  Russian veteran Svetlana Zakharova finished fourth (2:25:06) and Ethiopian Berhane Adere was fifth in 2:25:30.

Olympic champion Constantina Dita dropped out.  She was already well behind in the early stages of the race and appeared to be struggling.

Even taking into account the 30 meter elevation drop in the first 5 km, the men's race went out absurdly fast.  Pacemakers Elijah Keitany, Sammy Kosgei and John Kales split the first mile in 4:35 and the first 5 km in 14:06, a 1:58:59 marathon finish pace.  Most of the key contenders --Wanjiru, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa, and Abderrahime Goumri of Morocco-- stayed with the pacers.

The pace remained very hot through half-way (1:01:35), well ahead of world record schedule.  But it was clearly unsustainable for both the pacers and the contenders.  The pace sagged badly after halfway, prompting Ramaala to surge ahead of the pacers and wave them forward in the 18th mile.  Only Kales could continue to help out, and he soon dropped out, too.  Hopes for the world record were dashed.

In the 19th mile, Wanjiru, the Olympic Marathon gold medalist, got impatient and decided to try for the win.  He ran a 4:37 19th mile, and only Kebede and Gharib could remain close.  For the final miles, Wanjiru put in several surges, and Kebede did his best to match them.  The Ethiopian, third at the Olympic Games in the marathon, eventually had to accept defeat, giving Wanjiru his first London win in a course record and personal best 2:05:10.  He broke the injured Martin Lel's mark by five seconds.

Kebede finished second in a personal best 2:05:20, and Gharib, the Olympic silver medalist, finished third in 2:05:27, another personal best.  Kenya's Emmanuel Mutai (2:06:53) and Ramaala (2:07:44) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.  Tadese dropped out near 35 km in his debut.

It was a pretty good day for the American men, Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein.  Running in the second pack, they both set personal best times.  Keflezighi, the Olympic silver medalist in the marathon in 2004, clocked 2:09:21 in ninth place.  Ritzenhein, a two-time Olympian, ran 2:09:59 (unofficial) in 11th place.

Organizers said 36,156 runners picked up their numbers, and those who started were treated to a glorious day, with bright sunshine and comfortably cool temperatures.  The race is ongoing.

ENDS


Top 10 Marathon
men | Split: finish
position pl.age no. name age club time
1 1 2 » WANJIRU, SAMUEL (KEN) M18
2:05:10
2 2 4 » KEBEDE, TSEGAY (ETH) M18
2:05:20
3 3 8 » GHARIB, JAOUAD (MAR) M18
2:05:27
4 4 6 » MUTAI, EMMANUEL (KEN) M18
2:06:53
5 5 7 » RAMAALA, HENDRICK (RSA) M18
2:07:44
6 6 3 » GOUMRI, ABDERRAHIM (MAR) M18
2:08:25
7 7 10 » KIFLE, YONAS (ERI) M18
2:08:28
8 8 9 » SATO, ATSUSHI (JPN) M18
2:09:16
9 9 13 » KEFLEZIGHI, MEB (USA) M18
2:09:21
10 10 5 » LIMO, FELIX (KEN) M18
2:09:47
women | Split: finish
position pl.age no. name age club time
1 1 101 » MIKITENKO, IRINA (GER) W18
2:22:11
2 2 111 » YAMAUCHI, MARA (GBR) W18
2:23:12
3 3 118 » SHOBUKOVA, LILIYA (RUS) W18
2:24:24
4 4 107 » ZAKHAROVA, SVETLANA (RUS) W18
2:25:06
5 5 104 » ADERE, BERHANE (ETH) W18
2:25:30
6 6 116 » ABITOVA, INGA (RUS) W18
2:25:55
7 7 102 » NDEREBA, CATHERINE (KEN) W18
2:26:22
8 8 110 » MORIMOTO, TOMO (JPN) W18
2:26:29
9 9 108 » WAMI, GETE (ETH) W18
2:26:54
10 1 105 » PETROVA, LYUDMILA (RUS) W40
2:27:42



1 comment(s)
Kevin

Dathan 11th in 2:10:00

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