Lornah Kiplagat (© Getty Images)
Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands In windy and cold conditions Kenya's Lornah Kiplagat, preparing for the Osaka Ladies Marathon in two weeks time - which she won a year ago in 2:23:55 - was a class of her own, winning today’s 31st edition of the Egmond aan Zee Half Marathon in 1:12:28.
Kiplagat who hopes to get Dutch citizenship by the end of April, didn’t have to travel very far for her victory, as the Kenyan athlete married to her manager Dutchman Peter Langenhorst lives most of the year in the nearby village of Groet.
Just as with the ‘Dam to Dam’ Half Marathon (last September) the organizing club Le Champion pitches the women’s and men’s fields of the Egmond race in a sort of handicap race ‘against’ each other. As such, the women’s field started the race 8.37 minutes ahead of the men, the ‘head start’ being calculated by the average difference between the women’s and men’s winners over the last ten years of the race.
Kiplagat, leading from the very start and distancing her female opponents with every kilometre, was eventually overtaken by the men’s winner Luc Krotwaar, just 600 metres from the finish line on the sea boulevard at Egmond aan Zee.
The Egmond Half Marathon whose course takes runners over many paths on the beach and through sand dunes as well as on more standard road surfaces, was run in reverse direction this year because of a particularly high tide on the beach. As such, in the first half of the race the runners had to fight against a strong, and cold headwind.
“That was a very hard'', Kiplagat said afterwards. “In that part of the race I lost nearly five minutes of my head start (in front of the men). Moreover, the roads in the dunes were slippery because of ice. Nevertheless, I felt more comfortable in the dunes and I hoped I could beat the men. After 20.5 kilometres however Luc Krotwaar passed me. First I tried to hang on but he is in very good shape, as I had already seen him running at my training camp at Iten in Kenya. He deserved the win.''
Lornah Kiplagat finished in 1:12:28. Her next opponents Nadja Wijenberg and Irma Heeren, were over four minutes back with 1:16:42 and 1:16:47, respectively.
Five times Dutch marathon champion Luc Krotwaar was the men’s winner in 1:03:43. The 34 year old Dutchman, who trains often in Kenya and seems to have found his second life as an athlete, confirmed afterwards that he had been afraid of the strength of Kamiel Maase, the Dutch recordholder at 5 and 10kms, who was also just back from four weeks training in Kenya, and Wilson Kigen, the African who won had previously won the Egmond race twice before (2000 and 2002).
As he was feeling very strong, Krotwaar decided to break away as the race cut along the beach, and as a result he opened up a gap on a group of ten athletes and was never threatened again. He entered the dunes after around 11 kilometres, 3.08 minutes after Lornah Kiplagat had passed the same point. At that part of the race, Krotwaar was fifteen seconds ahead of the Kenyans Simon Kiprop and David Koech, with Maase a half minute adrift.
However, Masse was able to pass the Kenyans as he felt more comfortable on the road section of the course, which set up a Dutch 1, 2 finish, but he was never in a postion to catch his compatriot. “He was to far away'', said Maase who will just like Krotwaar will run the Rotterdam Marathon on 13 April 2003.
Wim Van Hemert for the IAAF
Results
Men
1. Luc Krotwaar (Ned) 1:03:43
2. Kamiel Maase (Ned) 1:04:36
3. Wilson Kigen (Ken) 1:05:22
4. Simon Kiprop (Ken) 1:05:40
5. David Koech (Ken) 1:05:44
6. Sammy Chumba (Ken) 1:06:08
7. Koen Raymaekers (Ned) 1:06:19
8. Hugo van de Broek (Ned) 1:06:30
9. Aiduna Aitnafa (Ned) 1:06:34
10. Vital Gahunga (Bur) 1:06:52
Women
1. Lornah Kiplagat (Ken) 1:12:28
2. Nadja wijenberg (Ned) 1:16:42
3. Irma Heeren (Ned) 1:16:47
4. Petra Drajzajtlova (Cze) 1:18:05
5. Jane Rotich (Ken) 1:19:28
6. Annelieke van der Sluijs (Ned) 1.19.37
