The temperature continues to go up, at 78 degrees by ten am, Emmauel Mutai has dropped back five minutes, fifty six seconds in the past ten kilomters-Mutai is in fourth! Timothy Cherigat is in third! And Lidya Grigoryeva is running alone and strong!
Evans Cheruiyot of Kenya busted the race open between 35 and 40 kilometers. Hitting 22 miles in 1:45:30, 23 miles in 1:50:24, 24 miles in 1:55:22 and twenty miles in 2:00.15. By the time Evans hit forty kilometers in 1:59:33, he had seventeen seconds over David Mandago. Timothy Cherigat had moved into third and Emmanuel Mutai was drifting farther and farther back…
Evans Cheruiyot, with only one other marathon behind him, continued to push to the finish. Over the last two kilometers, he put over a minute on second place! But, the heat has got to hurt out there and the sub 2:05 pace, dropped to a nice 2:06 pace. Cheruiyot has persisted, in spite of the suicidal early pace, and his near falling off the pace. But, his desire overcame the competition and Evans Cheruiyot, who had won his only previous marathon in 2:09:16, is now two for two, with his fine win at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in a fine 2:06:25!
Holding for second, David Mandago of Kenya ran a fine 2:07:37 and coming way from behind, Timothy Cherigat, who had been over a minute down at halfway, took third in 2:11:39 for third. More info on the top men soon!
Women’s Race-Grigoryeva powers away!
Lidiya Grigoryeva has finished eight World Majors marathons. She has run 30:32. She is cool and calculating and today, her calculations were brilliant. Grigoryeva went by Biktimorova just past thirty kilometers, passed in 1:46:09 by both of the runners. After Lidiya took off, that was all she wrote for Ms. Biktimorova.
Lidiya Grigoryeva was relentless, running miles in the 5:30s, then 5:20s. By thirty-five kilometers, Grigoryeva had a twenty-three second lead, which she passed in 2:03:06.
Grigoryeva continued to push and her effort showed. By forty kilometers, her lead was now one minute, forty-five seconds over Biktimorova and 2:49 over Kiyoko Shimahara of Japan, who had moved through the pack. Tomescu-Dita moved into fourth and Desiree Davila was in fifth at 40k.
Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia become the second Russian women to win at Bank of America Chicago Marathon, with her 2:27:17 win. Talk about negative splits! The women ran 1:16:02, then a 1:11:15 for the second half!
Alevtina Biktimorova of Russia took second in 2:29:32, with Kiyoko Shimihara in third in 2:30:19.
Observations on the women’s side? Grigoryeva ran a smart race, and her calculated move made total sense in this heat-a very smart race and a great win for the Russian.
On the men’s side? The 2:06;27 time was the number thirty on the all time list, but, my guess is ( suggested by one media expert), that with the exception of the Beijing Olympic race, not one of the other thirty fastest times was run within ten degrees of
this race!
We should have top ten results soon and also interviews, so do not go away!
