News18 Oct 2009


Bai and Mugo take Beijing Marathon titles

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Bai Xue of China wins the 2009 Beijing International Marathon (© c)



World Champion Bai Xue of China charged to the finish to collect her second Beijing International Marathon title while Kenyan Samuel Mugo won the men’s race with a personal best of 2:08:20.

The 29th Beijing International Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Under grey skies, the temperature at the start of the race was a cool and comfortable 8 C, but conditions turned windy in the second half of the race, challenging the runners to the end.

Kenya sweeps men’s podium

Pacesetter Nicholas Manza Kamakya of Kenya, who has never won a major international marathon but finished a close second at the Prague Half Marathon earlier this year, helped the Kenyan men to a clean podium sweep for the second year in a row.

By 3Km, Manza had set a fierce pace that would ultimately kill off Rachid Kisri of Morocco at 33Km. Manza, Mugo, and Kisri reached 10Km in 30:00, trailed by a pack of six Kenyans including William Kipsang, Benson Barus, Edwin Komen, and David Kemboi who were running 15 metres behind. The next 5Km was similarly covered in 15:00 flat, as the three leaders drew even farther away from the second group.

At halfway, Barus broke away from the second group and caught up with the leading trio. The four reached 30Km in 1:30:00 running in a single file, one after another: Manza three strides ahead of Mugo, followed by Kisri and Barus. But Kisri had started to let go, and by 35Km, the Moroccan faded out of sight.

At 32Km (1:37:22) for the first time, Mugo and Barus broke Manza’s pace. At 38Km, Mugo took the lead, testing his remaining rivals. Manza bravely kept up, even attempting a pass, but Mugo was so determined to maintain his lead that he sprinted more than 10 metres ahead of Manza as the two ran past the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium on Olympic Boulevard. Mugo glanced back several times but he was in the clear. He claimed victory with a PB of 2:08:20, quite a bit shy of the course record set of 2:07:35 set by Taisuke Kodama of Japan in 1986, and equalled by Abebe Mekonnen of Ethiopia in 1988.

Manza carried on to finish in 2:08:42, followed by Barus in 2:08:51. Kisri was fourth at 2:09:36, and the first Chinese runner finished seventh (Liu Gang 2:12:36).

Bai defends title

In the absence of current world leaders, it was the Chinese women all the way for the second year in a row. Twenty-year-old Bai Xue, the youngest ever World marathon champion who took gold in Berlin with a 2:25:15 run and ending Chinese women athletes' 10-year gold drought in the World championships, pushed to the finish in 2:34:44, more than eight minutes slower than her own winning time last year.

Neither Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Zhou Chunxiu nor Beijing Olympic fourth-placer Zhu Xiaolin placed in the top three this year. Those went to newcomers Zhang Xin (2:34:49) and Zhu Xiaoling (2:34:55).

A pack of 11 including Zhou, Zhu, Alice Timbilil of Kenya, who ran her PB at Paris last year, Hayato Hasso of Ethiopia (PB 2:34:01), North Korean Cha Jong Ok (PB 2:29:00) and the eventual winners lead the way. At halfway, Zhu was in the lead, chased by Hasso and Bai.

By 30Km, Timbilili was the remaining non-Chinese in the leading pack, which had thinned to five women. Zhou and Bai overtook the Kenyan briefly, but Timbilili heeled ahead once more. With 2:26:58 on the clock, cheered on by home fans in the home stretch, Bai made her move, sprinting ahead of Timbilili for an unassailable lead. Timbilili never recovered.

Commenting on the struggle at the end, Bai said that she never thought the Kenyan would pass her, because, “In the last several kilometres, I will run fast and I will win.”

Jean Yung for the IAAF
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