by Larry Eder
Mary Keitany, photo by PhotoRun.net
Stanley Biwott, photo by PhotoRun.net
On a cool, tailwindy day, Stanley Biwott and Mary Keitany brought their A games. They won in great style and made wonderful television. The New York Road Runners upped their game with their expansive media pavilion and great work conditions, getting one of their largest multi media coverages of their 35 years. RunBlogRun did a four minute stint on BBC Sports world radio for reprise of the great races!
Biwott and Keitany
NEW YORK (USA, Nov 1): Mary Keitany successfully defended her title at the 39th TCS New York City Marathon, while Stanley Biwott made it a Kenyan double, for the third consecutive year, in claiming his first major marathon title. Both races had large packs, with the women’s leading group whittled down by a series of surges and the men’s pack blown apart by decisive moves. Portugal’s Sara Moreira led for large portions of the race, but it was Keitany who reduced the pack to eight as she led during the 25th kilometre. Moreira wasn’t done and she pushed ahead again, but the Portuguese athlete couldn’t make a decisive break. That move was made by Keitany after 30km as she led a group of three others athletes (Aselefech Mergia, Tigist Tufa and Priscah Jeptoo) away, with Moreira trailing behind. Mergia lost contact at 34km with Jeptoo also falling back. By 35km, Keitany was all by herself and she went on to win in 2:24:25 (1:12:56/1:11:29). Ethiopians Mergia (2:25:32) and Tufa (2:25:50) also made it onto the podium, with Mergia making up a lot of ground in the final miles to catch her compatriot. Moreira backed up her third place finish from last year with fourth place finish this time in 2:25:43. European Marathon champion Christelle Daunay of France moved up the field in the later stages to finish 5th in 2:26:57. Jeptoo went the other direction, fading to 2:27:03. In seventh was the top American, Laura Thweatt in 2:28:23 on her debut. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia (2:28:46), Anna Incerti of Italy (2:33:13) and Boston Marathon champion Caroline Rotich of Kenya (2:33:19) completed the top ten. In the men’s race, world cross country and half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya surged to bring three others away at about 20 miles. Stanley Biwott and Lelisa Desisa stayed with him, but defending champion Wilson Kipsang was unable to keep with the leading three. At kilometre 38, Biwott made a big surge, that none of his rivals could match. He went on to win in 2:10:23, ahead of Kamworor (2:10:48) and Desisa (2:12:10). Kipsang ran 2:12:45, his slowest marathon finish ever, for fourth. Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia was 5th in 2:13:24, one place ahead of Japan’s frequent marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (2:13:29). As in the women’s race, the top American finished 7th: Meb Keflezighi in 2:13:32. Craig Leon of the USA (2:15:16), Birhanu Kemal of Ethiopia (2:15:40) and Kevin Chelimo of Kenya (2:15:49) completed the top ten.
