The field had started with 22 marathoners in the lead pack, and by the half marathon, it was down to nine, and then, eight, and then, six, five, four, and finally, it was down to Mark Kiptoo and Vincent Kipruto.
2013 BMW Frankfurt Marathon, fighting wind and rain, it came down to a sprint! by Larry Eder
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On the very swift BMW Frankfurt Marathon course, the nearly fifteen thousand runners had to battle wind gust surging to 15 to 20 miles an hour, and rain on the second half as well.
But, if you were Vincent Kipruto, you had to battle debut marathoner Mark Kiptoo, who, at the age of 37, battled Kipruto from 30 kilometers to the finish. There were several times when KIprutu would make breaks, but Kiptoo was there, not giving up.
Kipruto and Kiptoo hit the halfway point, with fifteen others, in 1:03.08, and in wind and rain, ran nearly even splits, but , as they hit 40 kilometers, one did not know who would win.
” I was worried about his track speed” noted the smiling, but tired Kipruto after the race. As they hit 42 kilometers, Vincent Kipruto put in one more sprint, and low and behold, he held off the 37 year old Kiptoo, who in his debut, may have set a world age best for his age!
Vincent Kipruto won in 2:06.15 with Mark Kiptoo at 2:06.16. Elijah Kemboi was third in 2:07.34.