Men’s race
Women's race
Men’s wheelchair race
Women’s wheelchair race
The men’s race
Lel regains his crown
Martin Lel regained his title in style, inflicting revenge on his compatriot Felix Limo who had beaten him to the line in 2006. The Kenyan won in 2:07:41, 3 seconds ahead of Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri with Limo 3rd in 2:07:47.
Race director David Bedford had assembled the best men’s field in history and the event did not disappoint. It was close until the final stages with four men still challenging as they approached The Mall. In the hot conditions, Paul Tergat’s world record of 2:04:55 was never going to be threatened but the presence of the great Kenyan, plus Ethiopia’s double Olympic track champion, Haile Gebrselassie, the double world marathon champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, and Italy’s Olympic champion Stefano Baldini made it a fantastic prospect.
Three Kenyan pacemakers were assigned to reach halfway in 62:45 and Paul Kimugul, Wilfred Taragon and Patrick Makau duly led a field of 14 through the opening miles in 4:56, 4:59 and 4:39. Limo was prominent at the head of the group, with Baldini, in 10th, just 2 seconds behind. But it was not to be a good day for the Italian who was already out of contention by 10km and dropped out after 28km with cramp.
Behind the pacemakers, the lead swapped hands at regular intervals with all the main players taking turns at the front. Gebrselassie, running London for the third occasion, looked determined to add this title to his list of honours and at this stage no-one could predict what lay ahead for the Ethiopian.
The first split came when Limo led a pack of eight clear of a chasing group headed by USA’s 24 year old debutant Ryan Hall. Goumri took the lead as they passed halfway in 63:39. The Moroccan had been seen as an outsider but like Gharib he is coached by the 1999 and 2001 London champion Abdelkader El Mouaziz.
Little changed until just after 30km when drama struck as Gebrselassie pulled up. He had looked troubled as the runners wound through London’s Docklands but no one expected him to drop out. He stood by the side of the road near Canary Wharf, leant against a crash barrier, and held his stomach. “I had a stitch”, he explained later. “I just could not breathe.” It turned out later that he was allergic to London’s pollen-heavy air.
The leading group was down to six as they reached the Embankment with less than 3 miles left – Lel, Limo, Gharib, Goumri, Tergat and the ever-present South African Hendrick Ramaala. It was quickly reduced to five when Tergat dropped away and then, as the runners swept past Big Ben, it fell to four as Ramaala slipped out of contention.
As the remaining quartet turned into the final 200m, Lel kicked for home. Although Goumri went with him, he was never going to catch the Kenyan. “I corrected the mistakes from last year”, said Lel, who had been beaten in a sprint by Limo 12 months earlier. “I had to be careful to preserve my energy. Last year I made a great mistake when I did not have enough left at the finish and could not react.”
Limo said: “I had been planning to get a drink at 40km but Gharib was blocking my way - not intentionally - and I had to retreat to take it. But it was a great race.”
In the absence of Jon Brown, who had withdrawn with illness on the morning of the race, Dan Robinson, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, became Britain’s leading man. He finished 9th in 2:14:14 having run alone for most of the morning. “The time is solid enough for me”, said Robinson. “It is good to be the first Briton.”
The women’s race
Zhou wins first for China
Zhou Chunxiu became the first Chinese athlete to win the London Marathon with a run of meticulous timing that, 16 months before the Olympic Games in Beijing, introduced the sport to a new superstar.
Wearing a white peaked-cap to protect her face from temperatures that rose steadily during the morning from 16.3 at the start to 21.7°C at midday, Zhou was the one athlete who never looked troubled during a gripping race. The 28 year old won in 2:20:38, having taken control after 22 miles, with Ethiopia’s Gete Wami 2nd in 2:21:45 and the Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita 3rd in 2:23:55 after overcoming a setback at halfway.
Zhou arrived for her World Marathon Majors debut with a superb record. She was the only competitor in the field to have broken 2:20, having won in Seoul in September 2006 in 2:19:51 3 months before her victory at the Asian Games in 2:27:03. But this field was the toughest she had ever faced.
The Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat, fresh from winning the World Cross Championships in Mombasa the previous month, made the first move after an opening mile of 5:27. But her 15 metre advantage behind the Kenyan pacemakers of Mary Keitany and Irene Kipchumba did not develop and the opening half of the race became a six woman affair as Zhou, Tomescu-Dita, Wami, her compatriot Berhane Adere, and Australia’s Benita Johnson jostled for position just behind Kiplagat.
Keitany and Kipchumba set a consistently fast pace with miles 2, 3 and 4 tripped off in 5:15, 5:04 and 5:15. By 15km (49:34) just a second separated the leading six, with Britons Mara Yamauchi and Liz Yelling further back in 8th and 9th, Yamauchi trailing Kiplagat by 1:14.
The first significant change came at 11 miles when Johnson dropped away. Zhou led the remaining five over Tower Bridge, but there was nothing to choose between them. They passed halfway in 69:58, just 13 seconds off the asking pace, which in the warm conditions was excellent pacing.
Now the real race began as they sped along The Highway. Soon it was down to four, and by the time they passed 16 miles in 1:26 there were only three. Adere, who had finished 4th in 2006, was next to suffer as they tackled the slight climb towards the Isle of Dogs. She quickly disappeared, slipping back to 8th place by the 30km mark.
Kiplagat, who had missed her drink at the 25km water station, was still battling for the lead with Wami and Zhou, while Kenya’s Salina Kosgei was closing in 5th, with Yamauchi just 46 seconds adrift in the next position.
Everything changed at mile 22 when the Chinese made her move. In the next 2 miles she settled the race, increasing the pace slightly in mile 23, clipped off in 5:27, before adding a punishing 24th mile in 5:09 that left her clear in the lead as they reached the Embankment. Wami indicated the game was up when she glanced behind her and Zhou reached Birdcage Walk without a challenge before crossing the line just outside the 2:20 barrier.
“This result shows that my training has worked”, she said afterwards. “I started to train for the marathon only in 2002, so to win a race such as this one is fantastic. I am honoured to be the first Chinese person to win the race.”
Wami was also happy with her performance. “It was my dream to run well here and it is a great day for me to finish in 2nd place”, said the Ethiopian. “I was surprised by Zhou because I had never heard of her.”
Tomescu-Dita, who recovered to pass the tiring Kiplagat, said: “I am happy with 3rd. It is a great day for me. I do not like the hot weather. I wanted to run under 2:20 but it was not possible.”
Kosgei also caught the Dutchwoman to finish 4th in 2:24:13 while Yamauchi was 6th with Yelling 8th in a personal best of 2:30:44, just inside the 2:31 qualifying time for Beijing.
The men’s wheelchair race
Weir wins number three
For the first time since 2002, Britain produced the winners of both London Marathon wheelchair races as David Weir retained his men’s title and Shelly Woods won the women’s.
Weir defeated Paralympic champion Kurt Fearnley of Australia by just 1 second to chalk up his third London victory.
After the first few miles the leading group included all the likely winners with Mexico’s Saul Mendoza, South Africa’s Ernst Van Dyk and the Japanese London debutant Choke Yasuoka alongside Weir and Fearnley. Any chance of victory for 8 times Seville champion Roger Puigbo Verdauger disappeared early when he suffered a puncture.
Weir and Fearnley soon moved ahead of the field, displaying competitive attitude as well as mutual respect as they gave each other a lot of eye contact. They went through half way in 43:10 more than 1:27 ahead of their rivals.
As they reached Big Ben Weir turned to Fearnley, shook his hand and said, “Well done, great race”. Then both athletes slowed before turning into The Mall in front of a vociferous crowd. Weir unleashed his phenomenal sprint to cross the line in 1:30:49, the second fastest time on the course.
“At 15 miles, we were flying at 18 miles per hour”, said Weir. “But it was a tactical race today and I got it right.”
Fearnley was disappointed to lose for the first time in 8 marathons since October 2006 but he paid respect to his conqueror.
Mendoza won a battle with Van Dyk for the bronze medal after a desperate sprint finish as both athletes clocked the same time, 1:33:46. Yasuoka was 5th in 1:33:50, followed by the 20 year old Briton Brian Alldis in 1:44:31.
The women’s wheelchair race
Woods lives up to promise
20 year old Shelly Woods lived up to the potential she had shown as a teenager to easily beat the world record holder and 4 time champion Francesca Porcellato of Italy in 1:50:40, the second fastest ever on the course.
Woods, who led from the start, said “I didn’t want a sprint finish so I took the lead after 400 metres and just pushed on, but it was tough on my own.”
Woods added that before this race she wasn’t sure what her best event was but now feels she is a marathon racer. Woods was just 1:31 outside the course record set by Sweden’s Monica Wetterstrom in 1997.
Porcellato was more than 9 minutes behind, while the expected challenge from Deborah Johnson was thwarted when she fell out of her chair early in the race and suffered facial injuries.
