2009 Flora London, Update 3-by Larry Eder

Since early on, Irina Mikitenko and Mara Yamauchi have been running with each other, the women hit 25 kilometers in 1.24.09, with Mara Yamauchi there and Zhou Chunxiu of China starting to fall back. Chunxiu started to fall back by 26 kilometers. She was ten meters back, quickly and just kept falling back.
The women’s second pack was just over a minute, ten seconds, with Catherine Ndereba, Lilya Shobukova, in her debut, Tomo Moromoto of Japan, Berhane Adere of Ethiopia, Geta Wami of Ethiopia, Sventlana Zakharova and Lyudmila Petrova of Russia in the pack.
The battle up front from, 25k kilometers to 35 kilometers was Mikitenko and Yamauchi. Just around 30 kilometers, in 1:41, Mikitenko pushed up the ante. Yamauchi would fall back, then come back, then fall back, then come back. By 35 kilometers, Mikitenko, the 2008 champion, had a nine second lead over Yamauchi.
Irina Mikitenko has been relentless, and she continued to build the lead over Mara Yamauchi.
On the men’s side, the men have been crazy. Hitting ten miles in 46.24, the lead men’s pack hit the fastest EVER for ten miles in a marathon! The pack of Gharib, Goumri, Wanjiru, Tadesse, Kebede, Mutai, Ramaala, Sato.
The lead pack of men hit 1:01.13 for the halfway-the best performance ever in a major marathon.
The lead men hit 25 kilometers in 1:13.35-with Meb Keflizighi in 1.15.29 and Dathan Ritzenhein in 1.15.27, with Luke Kibet in 1.16.10