Women reign on world track - Magazine |theeastafrican.co.ke

Women reign on world track

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Photo/File Kenya’s Hellen Obiri. She won the women’s 3,000m final at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships at the Atakoy Athletics Arena in Istanbul on March 11.  

By AYUMBA AYODI  (email the author)

Posted  Friday, March 23  2012 at  19:01

IN SUMMARY

• The women claimed two gold medals at the just concluded World Indoor Championships in Turkey, writes Ayumba Ayodi.

Kenya put on an exceptional show at the just concluded World Indoor Championships in Turkey and the Africa Cross Country Championships in Cape Town.

The women, in particular, saved the region some blushes by claiming two gold medals, while the male athletes, who opted for an early pace that proved counterproductive, settled for silver and bronze.

The results from the Africa Cross Country Championship weren’t a replica of last year when Kenya swept all the individual and team titles but still, winning six out of eight titles was phenomenal.

The naysayers were silenced when Pamela Jelimo, who is also the reigning Olympic Games 800m champion and the fast-rising Hellen Obiri pulled off a magnificent victories in the 800m and 3,000m respectively.

The victory was particularly emotional for Jelimo, who is out to rescue a career that had plummeted owing to injuries she sustained just after winning Kenya its first Olympic title at the 2008 games in Beijing.

Obiri’s victory not only erased the misfortune of the 2011 World Championships in Daegu where she tripped and fell during the 1,500m final but halted a successive title for Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar.

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Kenya’s other previous indoors wins are by Paul Korir (1,500m, 2004), Bernard Lagat (3,000m, 2004) and Wilfred Bungei (800m, 2006). Lagat is now a US citizen.

Tactical errors by Kenyans Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi, and Uganda’s Moses Ndiema Kipsiro handed Lagat his third consecutive title in the 3,000m.

Choge, the 2005 Commonwealth Games 5,000m champion settled for silver, Soi got bronze while Kipsiro, the 2012 World Championships 5,000m bronze medallist, finished a distant seventh.

The men also disappointed in the 800m when favourite Boaz Lalang, Timothy Kitum of Kenya, and Uganda’s Julius Mutekanga fell in the semi-finals of the race that went to Ethiopian Mohammed Aman who won the race.

Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat fizzled to a distant seventh in the 1,500m final after Bethwell Birgen fell in the semi-finals. Abdalaati Iguider of Morocco prevailed in the race.

“The indoor track is all about tactics. I now want to fully focus on how I will defend my Olympic Games title in London,” said Jelimo.

Obiri, who declared her intentions for the Olympic Games 1,500m title held by Jebet Lagat, said: “The coaches told me to stay behind her and use my power and kick in the last 100m and it worked well.”

The 2010 World Indoor silver medallist Lalang and Choge blamed it on wrong tactics.

“I took to the front too early and relaxed on the home stretch with 50 metres to go,” said Lalang.

Ethiopian Woman First to Finish Marathon Under Sunny Skies - Eagle Rock, CA Patch

A 20-year-old Ethiopian woman was the first runner to cross the finish line of the 2012 Los Angeles Marathon under blue skies.

Wearing red, Fatuma Sado kneeled down to kiss the ground after completing the 26-mile, 385-yard course from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica's Ocean Avenue in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 39 seconds. She captured a $100,000 bonus for beating the fastest man in the challenge race, Simon Njoroge, 31, of Iten, Kenya.

Forecasters had predicted on-and-off showers through the day, and hail and thunderstorms. But the course was dry and temperatures were in the mid-40s. Race organizers described the weather as "near perfect."

"The race was good," Sado said, speaking softly through an interpreter at a news conference. "The weather was cold when I started, and at the end it was windy—that is why I did not get so good of a time."

Marathon Press Officer Rich Perelman initially projected Sado might shatter marathon records. With an injury to her left leg, she limped slightly in the beginning and final stretches.

As she rolled downhill toward the ocean, nearing the finish line at the Santa Monica Pier, Sado looked over her shoulder to find the elite men competitors at least four minutes behind.

"Doesn't she just look great?" Perelman said.

Njoroge finished today's race in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds, with a pace of 5 miles and 2 second per mile. Last year—in spite of heavy rain—Markos Geneti ran the fastest marathon ever in Los Angeles with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 35 seconds.  

Sado and Njoroge each received $25,000 and a 2012 Honda CR-V, valued at $29,795. Her prizes totaled $149,795.

Hers is the fifth best women's time in the race's 27-year history, just shy of the fourth-place record of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 38 seconds set in 2010 by Edna Kiplagat. Sado hasn't placed lower than second in the four marathons she has completed since 2011.

The elite women's field got a 17-minute, 31-second head start, based on
a formula involving the lifetime bests of the elite male and female runners.
The bonus has been won by male runners four times and women runners four times.

• Related: Photos: LA Marathon 2012

Clouds loomed, but it was dry at dawn as more than 20,000 runners massed outside Dodger Stadium for start of what is traditionally one of the most grueling athletic events known to man. The starter's gun for the main pack fired about 7:25 a.m.

The clouds parted at the 10th mile. But the elite runners said that's when temperatures dropped and the wind picked up, hurting their times in the final stretch through Santa Monica.

Last year, a drenching 2.42 inches of rain fell over the marathon course, and dozens of runners got dangerously cold. Today, race organizers were equipped with about 5,000 plastic trash bags to keep racers warm and dry at the start. Some 23,000 Mylar blankets were also on hand to help runners guard against hypothermia, according to marathon Chief Operating Officer Nick Curl.

Heating buses were on stand-by at the medical stations and the finish line.

Last year, more than 300 marathon runners were evaluated for hypothermia and 20 were hospitalized. Rain has fallen on the race three other times in addition to last year. Trace amounts of rain fell twice in the 1990s, and 1.6 inches fell on the race in 2000, spokesman Perelman said.

The race has been held annually since 1986. For the third year in a row, the race will be run on the "Stadium to the Sea" course, billed by organizers as having a landmark every mile.

From Dodger Stadium, the course heads toward downtown, passing Chinatown, Olvera Street, City Hall, Little Tokyo, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. After the downtown leg, the course heads west through Echo Park and Silver Lake into Hollywood, passing the Hollywood & Highland Center, home of the Academy Awards, and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

The field then headed south onto Sunset Boulevard, entering West Hollywood, then Beverly Hills, where the runners swarmed Rodeo Drive. The latter parts of the race, officially known as the Honda LA Marathon, include Century City, the Veterans Administration grounds and Brentwood's broad San Vicente Boulevard, concluding near the Santa Monica Pier.

Changes to the race included allowing two-person relay teams, with each person running half the race, and an expansion of the race's charity program. About 200 relay teams have entered the race, with teams raising funds for the race's official charities. The relay hand-off point was on Sunset Boulevard, just before the Sunset Strip. The expansion of the race's charity fundraising efforts include the "I Run 4 Something" initiative, encouraging all the runners to raise money for their favorite causes.

Race organizers believe runners can raise $4 million for charitable causes, breaking last year's record. Since Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt purchased the operating rights to the race in 2008, the amount of money raised for charity has gone from just over $1.25 million in 2009 to $1.95 million in 2010 to just under $3 million in 2011, according to race officials. A field of about 23,000 runners is expected. The male and female winners will each receive $25,000 and a Honda CR-V, valued at $29,795.

— City News Service contributed to this report. 

Haile Gebrselassie set for Vienna return to chase Radcliffe | AthleticsAfrica.Com

By Editorial Team | March 15, 2012 - 13:26

Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie will return to the Vienna City Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on April 15th to chase down Paula Radcliffe over Half Marathon, which is staged parallel to the main event.

Similar to 2011 a chase race is arranged, but this time the opponent is a woman as Gebrselassie will compete against Radcliffe in the OMV Champions Race.

The British world marathon record holder had been announced earlier as a competitor in the half marathon. She will now start the race with a time advantage and Haile Gebrselassie will chase her.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be able to present our spectators a race of which you could only dream of. Haile running against Paula – two inspiring personalities and may be the two best runners of all times up against each other – this is something unique in the world of road running,” said a delighted Wolfgang Konrad, the Race Director of the Vienna City Marathon.

His event will feature a total of more than 33,000 runners. Entries are still possible for both the marathon and the half marathon.

Haile Gebrselassie took the race in 2011 with a course record of 60:18 minutes. He also won the chase race with the motto ‘Catch me if you can’ against the leading marathon runners, who were given a head start.

A year ago he received a tremendous reception by the spectators, politicians from the city and even the President of Austria. Mr Heinz Fischer had invited the two time Olympic 10,000 m Champion for a reception.

Haile Gebrselassie was so impressed after the weekend in Austria that he promised to come back. He does so at the very first opportunity.

After the disappointing result in the Tokyo Marathon, where Haile Gebrselassie finished fourth with 2:08:17 which is not fast enough to qualify for the Ethiopian Olympic team, there was a bit of a doubt regarding the race in Vienna.

But he decided to go ahead as planned. So the half marathon will now be his next race – and this should be an experience he will enjoy once more.

Both superstars had initially welcomed the idea of the chase race and confirmed their participation instantly. The time advantage for Paula Radcliffe will be determined nearer to the race.

She will start her race on her own while Haile Gebrselassie and the whole field will be chasing her on the way to the finish, which is located on the famous Wiener Heldenplatz – Vienna’s Hero Square.

There could hardly be a more fitting finish for the duel of two of the world’s greatest athletes.

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