Here is the coverage of the VW Prague Marathon, done by Andy Edwards and Pat Butcher, which happened earlier today.
Kiprop recovers
from typhoid to dash Cheromei’s hopes while Chimsa lives up to expectations in
eventful VW Prague Marathon
Expectations were
confounded as Kenya’s Agnes Kiprop won the women’s title in the VW Prague
Marathon on Sunday while the hopes of compatriot Lydia Cheromei of a 2:20
performance or better were dashed. Kiprop, who had dropped out of the Boston
Marathon last month, suffering from typhoid, won in 2:25:40 from Filomena
Chepchirchir and Ethiopia’s Meseret Debele. Cheromei, caught by Kiprop between
38 and 39k, dropped out soon after, suffering from a leg
injury.
Deressa Chima ran
to form to win the men’s title in 2:06:25, the second fastest performance ever
in Prague. The Ethiopian took command shortly before 25k and beat the Kenyan duo
of Stephen Tum and marathon debutant Philemon Limo.
When the starting
gun went off at 9am in Prague’s Old Square, conditions were ideal for attacking
the course record with the temperature at around 10C (48F), barely a breath of
wind and no rain forecast. Her own course record of 2:22:34, set last year, was
clearly the target in Lydia Cheromei’s mind. In the race build-up she had given
strong hints that a considerable improvement was on the cards, her morale
boosted by training with the new Kenyan record holder, Mary
Keitany.
Her confidence was
high as she went through 10k in 32:47, a tempo which would have taken her to a
2:18 clocking and into the same realm of performance as
Keitany.
Fellow Kenyans
Kiprop and Chepchirchir maintained a consistent pursuit . At halfway, Cheromei
was through in an impressive 1:09:22 so the dream of becoming the seventh woman
– and fourth Kenyan – to break 2:20 this year was still feasible. Kiprop was one
minute, four seconds behind and Chepchirchir a further 22 seconds adrift. The
lead was maintained at 30k with Cheromei timed at 1:40:19 and Kiprop trailing by
more than a minute.
The marathon can
be a hard task master and the event turned its claws on Cheromei in the next few
kilometres. Kiprop confessed her surprise, post-race, to find herself drawing
alongside her training partner just after 38k. Kiprop said, “I didn’t expect it
because I thought Lydia would win but when I caught her, she said, go on, I’m
having problems with my leg”.
Kiprop capitalised
on the encouragement to win by almost a minute from Chepchirchir, reflecting
that the wind coming off the River Vltva posed problems in the latter stages.
Kiprop and Cheromei’s coach, the Italian Gabriele Nicola, must have been left
with mixed emotions at their contrasting fates.
Victory marks a
remarkable recovery for Kiprop, who dropped out of the Boston Marathon at 22k on
April 16, suffering what was diagnosed later in Kenya as an attack of typhoid.
“I didn’t feel
well when I was in Boston, but I received good treatment at home and now I’m
happy for myself, yet, at the same time, unhappy for my friend and colleague
Lydia who was ready to run very well.”
Deressa Chimsa
carries a considerable amount of muscle on his upper body for a distance runner
and he showed a prize fighter’s swagger in breaking away from a leading group of
eleven shortly before 25k. The Ethiopian was the fastest man in the field on
lifetime performances, having brought his best down to 2:05:42 for eighth place
in Dubai on January 27. The group had gone through halfway in 1:02:54, right on
cue for a performance which might threaten the course record of 2:05:39, set by
the Kenyan Eliud Kiptanui two years ago.
Chimsa’s second
surge broke the group down to five and then he assumed the role of solo runner
par excellence, yet with a good 15k still to run. It was an all-Kenyan chasing
pack of marathon debutant Philemon Limo, Stephen Tum, winner of Marrakech on his
debut in January, Julius Arile Lomerinyang and Nephat
Kinyanui.
The front runner
continued to look strong as he went through 30k in 1:29:36 with the lead now
eleven seconds and growing. A contest of attrition was developing for the podium
places behind Chimsa, as Stephen Tum dealt Philemon Limo a lesson in coping with
the latter stages.
Chimsa extended
his lead to a winning 51 second margin, reflecting that however hard the last
10k felt, he was confident. “I knew I was strong before the race. The training
had gone so well, I could be confident.”
Runner-up Stephen
Tum was a happy man as well, having improved his winning debut in Marrakech on
January 29 by one minute, 35 seconds.
Philemon Limo, the
Prague 2011 half marathon champion, was in rueful mood afterwards, the effort
showing in every sinew as ran the last couple of kilometres into the Old Square.
“Now I know what the marathon is about. I shall go away and train harder than
ever before my next one.”
In a year that
marks the 60th anniversary since the Czech’s own distance running
legend, Emil Zatopek, completed his epic Olympic triple triumph by winning the
marathon in the Helsinki Games, this is a host city and nation that will
particularly appreciate the debutant’s reflections.
RESULTS
Men:
(Pos / Name / Nat
/ Bib / Time / Prize Money)
1.
Deressa Chimsa ETH #2 2:06:25
15k Euros
2.
Stephen Tum KEN #8 2:07:16 pb 7.5k
Euros
3.
Philemon Limo KEN #1 2:09:25 debut 5k Euros
4.
Francis Bowen KEN #5 2:10:05
2.5k
Euros
5.
Nephat Kinyanui KEN
#21 2:11:05 1k Euros
6.
Julius Arile Lomerinyang KEN #15 2:12:12 800
Euros
7.
Wirimai Juwawo ZIM #17 2:14:37 500 Euros
8.
Teferei Bacha ETH #23 2:14:37 400
Euros
9.
Niguse Chala ETH #20 2:14:41
200 Euros
10.
Yared Dagnaw ETH #6
2:14:59 100
Euros
Women:
1.
Agnes Kiprop KEN #F2 2:25:40 15k Euros
2.
Filomena Chepchirchir KEN #F3 2:26:50 7.5k
Euros
3.
Meseret Debekle ETH #F8 2:27:15 pb 5k
Euros
4.
Salem Ait ALG #F6 2:27:21
2.5k Euros
5.
Misiker Mekonnin ETH #F4 2:29:46 1k
Euros
6.
Silvia Skvortsova RUS #F5 2:30:27 800
Euros
