Six US top ten finishes in NY Marathon

By Feverpitch Reporter and Agencies

As Kenyans faltered in New York on Sunday, the outcome of the 40th ‘Big Apple’ race is being hailed as a renaissance for US runners.

The big theme of the day from the mainstream American media’s perspective was the return of top-flight American distance running.

Meb Keflezighi obviously ran the race of his life to become the first American winner in New York since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

Meb, 34, has worked extremely hard to come back from a broken hip in late 2007. Behind him, Americans filled five out of the next nine spots put six in the top 10 in the race. Going in, that number would have seemed absurd given the qualifications of the international elite.

While the country’s press were thrilled with the American success, the Americans themselves seemed very subdued, with the exception of Meb.

Car crash

Ryan Hall was visibly frustrated and angry. Jorge Torres was obviously happy his first marathon ended in a 7th-place finish but the first thing he said was "that’s a long race."

That was pretty much the only humorous comment anyone gave all day, the mood was so serious and deflated. Tears flowed in Torres’ press conference when he brought up the death of his mentor in a car crash this summer.

Brian Sell, the blue-collar American workhorse who made the Olympic team in 2008, had a devastating positive split, as did Fasil Bizuneh and Max King.

Normally talkative Abdi Abdirahman wanted to take no part in the post-race interviews and was visibly dejected despite a top 10 finish.

Despite Kenyans failing to ignite New York, the country’s athletes continued their dominance in marathon running as Francis Kibiwott ran to victory in Seoul.

Shoulder to shoulder

The winner, David Kipkorir, Felix Limo, David Kemboi, Stephen Kipkoech and Jacob Yator were joined by Wegaehu Tefera from Ethiopia and El Gagy Najim from Morocco.

The same pack of eight led by Kibiwott passed through 10km mark shoulder to shoulder in 30:01. Climbing the hill between the tenth and 11th kilometre did not slow down the pack and the same eight followed Kibiwott to the 15km mark to cross it in 45:28.

The 30 km mark was passed by five in 1:31:18, with Yator five metres behind and Limo more than 200 metres behind.

By the 35 km (1:46:17) mark the pack thinned to just three – Kibiwott, Kipkorir, and Kibiwot – and passed it 1:46:17.

Kiyeng and Tefera trailed some 50 metres behind. Over the next five kilometres, Kibiwott and Kipkorir threw in tentative surges, passing 40 km in 2:02:04, with Kibiwot trailing by 40 metres. On the last stretch, Kibiwott overtook Kipkorir to take a narrow victory in 2:09:01

 

 

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