by Justin Lagat
To me, there has never been a day that begins at 3 am in the morning and ended at 10 pm, with everything that happens in between being nothing else but road running and running related activities. This should be an historical day given that all that happened in just a day would typically happen in more than a month! From Seoul marathon, to Wuxi marathon, to Lisbon half, to the New York city half marathon, and to the Los Angeles marathon, among others, it has indeed been one unique day of road running.
At 3 am, I woke up and tried to catch up some action in the Seoul international marathon since a number of runners from my training group were running. But, all I could manage to get were updates from the social media as the race progressed.The frustration of trying to find a way to watch the race was soon overtaken by joy when the top five men’s results were posted and all of them were Kenyans. Amos Kipruto won the race in 2:05:59, Felix Kipchirchir Kandie and Mark Korir finished second and third, both registering the same time of 2:06:11. Nobert Kipkoech Kigen finished fourth in 2:06:13 while Wilson Erupe finished fifth in 2:06:34.
The women’s winner was Kenya’s Margaret Agai in an impressive time of 2:25:56 ahead of Ethiopia’s Ashete Bekere Dido in 2:26:04.
The women’s winner was Kenya’s Margaret Agai in an impressive time of 2:25:56 ahead of Ethiopia’s Ashete Bekere Dido in 2:26:04.
After a cup of tea and going out for my morning run, I got back just in time to find the Wuxi international marathon in China having just began and being aired live on TV . So, I sat back and enjoyed the next two hours of the exciting race that built slowly into a great climax in the men’s race towards the finish. With less than 600m to go, three athletes started to sprint for the tape. As a single file began to form, but then the first two just missed the last bend and went the wrong way; the third got the bend right and went ahead to cut the tape. This changed the order of how the top three athletes would have just finished the race. Kenyan-born Bahrain athlete won the race as two Ethiopians took second and third.
As the Wuxi marathon was coming to a conclusion, I was already watching the live streaming of the NYC half marathon, while at the same time getting updates from the Lisbon half marathon. Soon, the NYC half began to be aired live on TV again and I kept checking updates from the Lisbon half as I watched the NYC race. From the social media, Mare Dibaba had out-sprinted Vivian Cheruiyot to take the women’s title in Lisbon as New Zealand’s Jake Robertson had made a huge come back after getting side-lined by an injury by winning the men’s race. His winning time of 1:00.00 puts him as one of the fastest runners from his country over the distance and will definitely make news headlines as he follows in his twin brother, Zane’ footsteps.
The NYC half races were both exciting. There was a great show of team work and support in the women’s race as Molly Huddle and Emily Sisson led the race and maintained a hard and steady pace that shook off the rest of the competitors behind them. The end result was a third consecutive win for Huddle as Sission took second. Diane Nukuri was third, followed by Edna Kiplagat in fourth.
Feyisa Lelisa won the men’s race after a sprint for the tape with Callum Hawkins. He went ahead to repeat the same protest sign he showed at the Rio Olympics against his government’s treatment of his tribe in Ethiopia.
After watching the New York City half marathon, it was already time for my evening run. After the run, it became time for me to reflect on all that had happened over the day and write something about it. There were many other race results that kept coming in from the social media, including one that happened here in Eldoret. It seems, if anyone kept account of all the races that happened today, then this day could perhaps pass as a day with the most road races done in a single day.
And, as I now prepare to go to bed, the Los Angeles marathon results just comes in with Kenyans taking the first four positions in the men’s race and top two in the women’s race.
What a day!
