byJustin LagatTamirat Tola is the fastest man at this year’s @TCSadammarathon, finishing in a time of 02:03:37. Holding the finish line is @AbKumar1, CMO, @TCS Global Markets and @simonekukenheim for this outstanding achievement. #WebelieveAmsterdam #TCSAM21 #Buildingonbelief pic.twitter.com/UGIz18J4bj
— TCS @ #WebelieveAmsterdam (@TCS_Europe) October 17, 2021
This is Justin Lagat’s piece on the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. Angela Tanui and Tamirat Tola set new course records in Amsterdam today. Tola lead five men under 2:05. Tanui destroyed the CR with a 1:07 second half!
Angela Tanui is today’s fastest female competitor, crossing the line in an exceptional time of 02:17:56. #WebelieveAmsterdam #TCSAM21 #Buildingonbelief pic.twitter.com/TGOse5uS5P
— TCS @ #WebelieveAmsterdam (@TCS_Europe) October 17, 2021
This Sunday, the 17th of October 2021, will go down in history as one of the days that had the highest number of road races happening in one day. They included the Cape Town Marathon, Paris Marathon, Lisbon Marathon, Roma-Ostia half marathon, Great South Run, Boston 10K women, Luso Meia Marathon, Barcelona Half Marathon, Toronto Waterfront 10K, and the Amsterdam Marathon, among others.
From the many races, the race that will arguably stand out from the rest will be the Amsterdam Marathon after the stunning performances witnessed in both the men’s and women’s races, with course records being broken in both.
Angela Tanui ran a spectacular second half of the marathon to register a new course record and a personal best time of 2:17:57. She was clearly on a mission to run a memorable race here as she kept patient in the leading pack that went through the half in 1:10:07. At 30km, there were still four women in the leading pack as they crossed it in 1:39:37. But that was the point at which she started to make her intentions known. She quickly began to open a gap on the rest of her competitors. She would create a gap of almost two and half minutes in the last 12km on her nearest competitor, Maureen Chepkemoi who came in to finish second in 2:20:18 edging Haven Hailu who finished third in 2:20:19.
Tanui had a white ribbon tied to her chest number. She later told reporters at the finish line that she did that for her departed friend and training partner, Agnes Tirop who was killed in Iten earlier in the week. The two came from the same athletics management group.
Tamirat Tola ran a new personal best time of 2:03:39 to win the men’s race in a new course record, breaking the old one of 2:04:06 that was set by Lawrence Cherono in 2018. Interestingly, Tola’s previous personal best time was the same as the previous course record for Amsterdam!
The men’s race became more exciting after a pack of six runners had broken away from the rest at around 35km. They were two Kenyans; Bernard Koech and Jonathan Korir, two Ethiopians; Tamirat Tola and Leul Gebresilase, and two Eritreans; Hiskel Tewelde and Afwerki Berhane.
As they approached 40km, Tola made a decisive move that left the pack in a single file behind him as his countryman Gebresilase followed him. The gap continued to grow till he won the race some thirty seconds ahead of his next competitor.
Koech would overtake Gebresilase in the last stages of the race to finish second and register a new personal best time of 2:04:09 as he made a huge comeback after failing to feature prominently in the last few years. Gebresilase finished third in 2:04:12.
