El Mouaziz, Chepchumba, Ndereba extend best career marathon records
Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco (Getty Images)
Abdelkader El Mouaziz may not have been close to the winner at the end of the London Marathon’s men’s race on 17 April, but by reaching the finish in 2:09:03 the Moroccan star continued a phenomenal run in the British capital.
For the eighth consecutive year he broke 2:10 there, the best such streak at a single race. He posted a 2:08:07 in 1998 and has followed with 2:07:57 (1999), 2:07:33 (2000), 2:07:11 (2001), 2:06:52 (2002), 2:08:03 (2003) and 2:09:42 (2004) prior to this year.
El Mouaziz extended his unsurpassed career record of sub-2:10s to 13 with his three others in Marrakech and two more in Chicago. That total was two more than any other man in history… for 22 seconds, as Stefano Baldini posted his 12th lifetime sub-2:10 finishing just behind El Mouaziz in London.
Joyce Chepchumba added an unprecedented 17th career sub-2:28 at London, but missed by a mere two seconds in increasing her record for sub-2:27s. She also moved into a tie with Katrin Dorre for the most sub-2:29s with 19.
Moreover Chepchumba is now the second woman in history to reach 20 lifetime sub-2:30s, and is just one fast autumn marathon away from equalling Dorre’s career record. When Dorre ran her 21st and final sub-2:30 at New York City in 1999 it seemed unapproachable, as Grete Waitz had the next best accumulation with 13, but Chepchumba has had remarkable consistency having run at least two sub-2:30 marathons a year since 1996.
Another great Kenyan woman marathoner, Catherine Ndereba, continued to add to her legend at Boston on 18 April. Besides her fourth win there, Ndereba posted her tenth lifetime sub-2:26, one more than Chepchumba.
Marty Post for the IAAF
Best career marathon records:
MEN
sub-2:07s: 3 – Khalid Khannouchi, Felix Limo, Evans Rutto, Paul Tergat
sub-2:08s: 6 – Khannouchi, Josephat Kiprono
sub-2:09s: 8 – Abdelkader el Mouaziz, Khannouchi, Sammy Korir
sub-2:10s: 13 – El Mouaziz
sub-2:11s: 16 – El Mouaziz
sub-2:12s: 22 – Abebe Mekonen
sub-2:13s: 27 – Mekonen
sub-2:14s: 30 – Mekonen
sub-2:15s: 32 – Mekonen
WOMEN
sub-2:20s & sub-2:21s: 4 – Paula Radcliffe
sub-2:22s & sub-2:23s: 5 – Catherine Ndereba
sub-2:24s: 8 – Ndereba
sub-2:25s: 9 – Ndereba
sub-2:26s: 10 – Ndereba
sub-2:27s: 14 – Joyce Chepchumba
sub-2:28s: 17 – Chepchumba
sub-2:29s: 19 – Chepchumba, Katrin Dorre
sub-2:30s: 21 – Dorre