The big guns disappointed as Sammy Wanjiru DNF'ed, Duncan Kibet DNF'ed, and Zersenay Tadese blew up big at 35k and finished with a 2:12.
This made one guy really happy. Tsegaye Kebede, who had cruised to a 2:05:19 victory, staking his claim as the worlds best marathoner, for now.
Wanjiru dropped out at before reaching 30k. He had fallen 10 seconds back of the pack and claimed to be having knee pain(surely from the all the TRAVEL).
Kibet ran 16min for the 25k-30k and then dropped out. No word on his excuse. Probably tired from all the TRAVEL. He also DNF'ed at Berlin in Sept. Him and Kwambi have been pathetic since their 2:04's.
Tadese finished, barely. He ran 18:30(5:57/mile for 35k-40k, and nearly 9min for the last 2k. The half marathon world record holder's try at marathon career has now resulted in a DNF, and a 2:12. The marathon is not for everyone.
Kebede was solid though. The half was passed in a(nowadys) pedestrian 1:03:06 as the pacers did a terrible job. A pack of six remained through 25k, before Kebede and Kirui injected some pace and gapped the pack by 30k. Kirui would sputter out by 35k, eventually being passed by Mutai, as Kebede powered home to near course record, and just one second off his PR. He negative split the course with a 1:02:13 second half.
But the race just wasn't that interesting. A world record was clearly not gonna happen, and after getting hyped for a Wanjiru/Tadese showdown, it was a little disappointing. And only one guy under 2:06, compared with 4 at Rotterdam.
My hat is safe as Deena Kastor was a mere 18 minutes off her PR with a whopper of a 2:37. She talked a superb game, and put up a supreme flop.
She's 37 and her days are numbered, if not over. She already signed on to run NYC in the fall, but if she doesn't run well there, I can't imagine she'll be back.
Universal Sports coverage was terrible as always. I won't even get into it again, other than just thank them for showing the entire top 25 women finish for about 10 minutes as the men's race unfolded. Thank you thank you.
Men's Top Results
1 Kebede, Tsegaye (ETH) 02:05:19
2 Mutai, Emmanuel (KEN) 02:06:23
3 Gharib, Jaouad (MAR) 02:06:55
4 Bouramdane, Abderrahime (MAR) 02:07:33
5 Kirui, Abel (KEN) 02:08:04
6 Gomes dos Santos, Marilson (BRA) 02:08:46
7 Tadese, Zersenay (ERI) 02:12:03
8 Lemoncello, Andrew (GBR)02:13:40
9 Kifle, Yonas (ERI) 02:14:39
10 Jones, Andi (GBR) 02:16:38
Women's Top Results:
1 Shobukhova, Liliya (RUS)02:22:00
2 Abitova, Inga (RUS) 02:22:19
3 Mergia, Aselefech (ETH) 02:22:38
4 Bekele, Bezunesh (ETH) 02:23:17
5 Tafa, Askale (ETH) 02:24:39
6 Akaba, Yukiko (JPN) 02:24:55
7 Bai, Xue (CHN) 02:25:18
8 Smith, Kim (NZL) 02:25:21
9 Ozaki, Mari (JPN) 02:25:43
10 Yamauchi, Mara (GBR) 02:26:16
Don't you mean duel?
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