Women’s pack of seventeen, is starting to drop. Halfway hit in 1:18;12, fourteen in 1:23.17, fifteen in 1:29.12, and 25 k in 1:32.09. Helena Kirop in lead of women, Goucher looks fine, as the women hit the first hill in Newton. Women crested first hill, de Reuck still there as well.
Men just ran 5.18 for mile fourteen, all guys getting water, but now their race is becoming more tactical. Stephen Kiogora in lead, with Hall and Cheruiyot, Hall is showing his smarts staying out of trouble. Men’s pack together.
Hall drops back to eleventh after sixteen, hit in 1:18.12, with seventeen hit in 1:23.01, as Hall starts to move back up, hitting sixth, now moving into fifth, as 18 miles hit in 1:27.56. Deriba Merga and Daniel Rono are leading, pushing the pace, at third of the Newton Hills, running 4.43 for the most recent mile. Merga looks very tough. Hall in fourth place!
On the women’s side, women hit 30k in 1:50.51, 19 miles in 1:52.52 and twenty miles in 1:58.56. Women are beginning to move!
On the men’s side, men hit nineteen in 1:32.42 and twenty miles in 1:37.37, with Deriba Merga, Daniel Rono and Ryan Hall. Hall is twenty-five seconds back, but Rono is looking tough, Robert Cheruiyot, four time winner, has fallen off the back of the pack.
Merga is starting to struggle a bit on the fourth hill in Newton. Seven women in pack at twenty-one miles. (Merga has pb of 2:06.38 from London 2008).