Run to Win

This morning was the London Marathon, and coming through in an impressive 5^th place was Ryan Hall with a time of 2:06:17. He came across the line over 2 minutes faster than he ran last year in the race.

Ryan Hall managed to stay with the leaders through 30 kilometers, and finished just over 1 minute behind Martin Lel who won with a time of 2:05:17.

The women’s race was won by Irina Mikitenko in 2:24:14. Gete Wami fell hard at a water stop late in the race and may have injured her hip but still managed to finish in 3^rd in 2:25:37.

(Searchable Results: http://results-2008.london-marathon.co.uk/ – Hat Tip: Runner’s World)

Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya and Gete Wami of Ethiopia were the recipients of the first $1 million payout from the World Marathon Majors this week. The majors will pay out every year going forward on a 2 year rolling cycle. Both runners received $500,000 checks.

For the inaugural 2 year cycle, there were 11 races in which runners could score. For both 2006 and 2007, the Boston and London Marathons in the Spring and the Berlin, Chicago and New York City Marathons in the Autumn scored, while this year’s IAAF world championship marathon also scored. Next year, the Olympic Marathon will also fall onto the roster.
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Haile Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon this weekend in a world record time of 2:04:26! He surpassed Paul Tergat’s time of 2:04:55 from 4 years ago at the same race. With his win, he moves into second place in the world marathon majors for the 2006/2007 scoring year, and is tied for first place in the 2007/2008 standings. The conditions were near perfect, reaching a high in the low 60s at the end of the race and with very little wind.

Gete Wami moved into 1^st place after her win in the women’s race in 2:23:17.

I thought that Gebrselassie was going to break Paul Tergat’s record, but I did not expect to see it until next year or the year after. It turns out that he was able to break the record much earlier than I had given him credit for. While it is not likely, I hope that this record spurs on a series of world record runs in the next couple of years, because I would like to see the record get down below 2 hours. I do not know if anybody will ever be able to do that, but it would be something to see!

(Source: World Marathon Majors)

The London Marathon was today, and over 5000 runners were treated with over 70 being sent along to the hospital after the temperatures got up near 70°_F. This equals the 1996 heat record for the race.

Martin Lel won the men’s race by three seconds in 2:07:41, outsprinting Abderrahim Goumri and Felix Limo. The lead men went through the halfway mark in 63:39, and just about everybody in the pack of elites got a turn to lead early in the race. Ryan Hall led the race at 35km, but fell back to 7^th by the end of the race to finish as the first American.

Chunxiu Zhou ran a commanding race to finish first amongst the women in 2:20:38. Gete Wami finished second over a minute later, with Constantina Tomescu-Dita trailing in third. The women were right on their goal pace for the halfway marker, coming through in 69:58. Yolando Mercado Torres was the first American woman, finishing over 22 minutes behind the Chunxiu Zhou. She kept a very consistent pace throughout the race.

The marathon had a record field size this year, with 35,674 finishers. Almost 50,000 registrations were accepted of the 125,000 applicants, with over 36,000 reaching the starting line.

(Sources: Flora London Marathon – BBC.com)