by Larry EderAfter this race, one has a strong argument in noting that Geoffrey Mutai is the best male marathoner RACER in the world. His wins in the 2011 BAA Boston marathon and now, the 2011 ING New York City marathon reveal a man who is supremely fit and also supremely tactical. The next time someone says Boston is wind-aided, remind them who won Boston in the fastest time, all conditions, EVER and owned the New York City marathon course.
The rumors before the marathon during the week in the Timex Media Center were pretty simple: Mutai, one of them would win and bust the course record wide open. The other rumor was that Mary Keitany would win and that the course record was hers.
For once, the rumor mill was right. A guy named Mutai did win: Geoffrey Mutai. He also busted the course record so gallantly, with his 2:05:06, and won from such a tough field, that Geoffrey Mutai should be considered the best male Marathon Racer in the world. Period.
Emmanuel Mutai, 2011 Virgin London, photo by PhotoRun.netAs the women went out fast, the men went out pretty relaxed, hitting the 5k in 15:34. Mathew Kisorio, Tsegaye Kidane, Gebre Gebremariam, 2010 ING NYCM winner, Meb Keflezighi, 2009 ING NYCM winner, Viktor Rothlin, 2010 European marathon champion, and Geoffrey Mutai, 2011 BAA Boston champion in 2:03:02, and Emmanuel Mutai, 2011 Virgin London Marathon
champion in 2:04:40.
The pack hit 10k in 30:23, and then, Feyisa Lelisa of Ethiopia pushed a bit of lead, hitting the 15k in 44:57. Meb Keflezighi lead the chasing pack, hitting 15k in 45:12. Mutai was in the lead (Geoffrey, that is), by 20k, hitting 60:04. Ten men were in the pack, hitting the 20k in 60:04-60:05.
It was Emmanuel Mutai, the London winner, who lead at the half marathon, hitting 1:03:17. It was at this time, that the pack began to break up. Meb Keflezighi, per his coach Bob Larson, had some nausea issues right after the half marathon, as, per Bob, ” Meb thought it was too fast.”
Tsegaye Kebede, 2010 Virgin London Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.netRunning 4:51 pace, the group of ten hit the 25 kilometer mark between 1:15:06 and 1:15:07. Geoffrey Mutai, Emmanuel Mutai, Stephen Kibet and Gebre Gebremariam were all there. Meb Keflezighi was not far behind.
Well, Geoffrey Mutai must have had enough. Dropping a 14:23 for the next 5k, Mutai put 17 seconds on Emmanuel Mutai and Tsegaye Kebede, who were running next to each other. Gebre Gebremariam was not giving up without a fight, the 2010 ING NYCM champion in fourth place. And in fifth, Mathew Kisorio, who had run 58:46 for the half marathon this past September in Philly, was ominous.
This is how Geoffrey Mutai won the 2011 ING New York City Marathon–he crushed his competition. Running 14;26 for 5k, following a 14:23, Geoffrey Mutai just flew along the course, running miles 24 and 25 in just about 9 minutes!
At 40k, Geoffrey Mutai had one minute, two seconds on Emmanuel Mutai.
Geoffrey Mutai did not quit. He dropped the hammer over the last two miles and blew the course record of 2:07:43 away, running 2:05:06!
For Geoffrey Mutai, the win in New York was affirmation that his Boston win was not an anomaly. Mutai has two wins against tough fields and his bone crushing win at the 2011 ING NYCM Marathon shows that the Kenyan Federation will have a very tough time not naming him to the Marathon team for Kenya. Trouble is, Kenya has enough great marathoners to fill four Olympic teams.
1. Geoffrey Mutai, Kenya, 2:05:06, CR, $130k Prize plus $70k Bonus=$200k
2. Emmanuel Mutai, Kenya, 2:06;28, $65k Prize plus $70k Bonus=$135k
3. Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopia, 2:07:14, $40k Prize plus $70k Bonus=$110k
4. Gebre Gebremariam, Ethiopia, 2:08:00, $25k Prize plus $40k=$65k
5. Jaouad Gharib, Morocco, 2:08:29, $15k Prize plus $40k Bonus=$55k
6. Meb Keflezighi, USA, 2:09:13 PB, $10k Prize plus $30k Bonus=$40k
7. Abdellah Falil, Morocco, 2:10:35, $7k Prize plus $10k Bonus=$17k
8. Mathew Kisorio, Kenya, 2:10.58 Debut, $5k Prize plus $10k Bonus=$15k
9. Ezkyas Sisay, Ethiopia, 2:11:04, PB, $2k Prize plus $5k Bonus=$7k
10. Ed Moran, USA, debut, 2:11.46, $1k Prize plus 0 Bonus=$1k
Ed Moran told us afterwards he wanted to run 2:13 or better. ” The marathon hurts much differently than a 10k. The marathon comes on about 30-35k and you have to stay focused.
I had one crisis of faith when I dropped my gel at about 35k and I worried, but I stayed focused and heard at 24 miles I was in tenth place, so I better hold on…”
Congrats to Gebre Gebremariam, who toughed out a fourth place here, running 2:08:00 after a his win in 2010 here.
Oh, and Emmanuel Mutai should be quite happy as his second place here is worth $500k to him as the winner of the 2010-2011 World Marathon Majors series. We will report from that tomorrow.
And hats off to Meb Keflezighi, 2004 Olympic silver medalist, finished his eight ING NYCM and runs a personal best (and with a bit of nausea too), running 2:09:13!
More to come tomorrow, but for now, will look forward to seeing pictures from Victor Sailer and his team from PhotoRun.net and reading some of the fine pieces out there! Thanks again for reading RBR and so long from New York!
