Francis Kirwa of Finland winning in Padua in 2:11:00 (© organisers)
Padua, ItalyFinn Francis Kirwa took the win at the Maratona Sant’Antonio from Vedelago to Padua in 2:11:00 on a sunny and warm day. Kirwa won unopposed over Italian Alberico Di Cecco (2:13:09) and Kenyan Haron Toroitich (2:13:24). The women’s race went to Italian Marcella Mancini in 2:35:24.
Prior to his Padua run Kirwa held a PB of 2:13:09, and thanks to his 2:11:00 he qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Men’s race –
The men’s race developed at a sub-2:10 pace in the first 10 km. After first pacemaker Angelo Carosi finished his task at 9 km, Kenyan pacers Nahashon Rugut and Henry Rutto took over, passing 10 km in 30:44, with ten others following. The lead pack featured all the favourites: Di Cecco, Philip Biwott, Kirwa, Toroitich, debutant Mark Bett (26:52.93 10,000m performer), and Australia’s Scott Westcott.
The first runner to lose contact with the leaders was Westcott at 16 km. At this point six remained in contention for the win: Di Cecco, Toroitich, Biwott, Kirwa and Amos Masai.
The pace at halfway (1:04:45) was inside the course record set by Ethiopian Dawit Trfe in 2003 (2:10:38). At 22 km pacemaker Rugut dropped out. Five men remained in the front: Di Cecco, Toroitich, Biwott, Kirwa and Bett. Masai lost ground and was dropped at 22 km.
Second Kenyan pacemaker Henry Rutto accomplished his task at 25 km after passing in 1:16:50 at this point. Toroitich pushed the pace at 28 km. This took its toll on Bett who began to lose ground. Biwott tried to break away at 30 km (1:32:17) but the trio formed by Toroitich, Kirwa and Di Cecco managed to respond.
Biwott then tried to launch a second attack increasing his gap on his rivals thanks to a 3:01 split between 34 and 35 km. Kirwa managed to catch Biwott at 35 km (1:47:46), with Toroitich five seconds behind the leading duo. The second breakaway attempt took its toll on Biwott at 37 km. He was overhauled by Kirwa who upped the pace opening a gap of 15 seconds on Toroitich and 50 seconds on Di Cecco.
Kirwa continued to increase his lead to 23 seconds at 38 km. Although Di Cecco suffered from cramps in the final part of the race, he found the strength to clinch second place while Biwott began to struggle and dropped out at 38 km when it was getting warmer with the temperature rising to 25° C.
“I did not expect to run this time,” said Kirwa, a native of Kenya who moved to Finland in 2001. “There were other athletes who had faster PBs before the race. I ran fast from the beginning but during the race it got hotter and this affected our race. At 36 km I felt leg cramps because the cobblestones in the final part of the race caused me some problems. I was more focused on winning the race than running a fast time.”
Kirwa, who lives in Lahti, obtained Finnish citizenship on 1 January 2003.
“I chose to represent Finland because I realized that I had more chances to compete in international major events. I ran for Finland at the World Championships in Helsinki but it was a very difficult race,” Kirwa recalled.
Women’s race -
In the women’s race it was 2:28 runner Alina Gherasim who set the early pace until the halfway mark (1:14:55), opening a gap of 46 seconds on Spain’s Teresa Pulido and Italy’s Marcella Mancini.
Quite unexpectedly Gherasim began to struggle and was forced to drop out at 25 km. Mancini then went to the lead with a gap of 14 seconds over Pulido.
Mancini increased her lead over Pulido to 52 seconds at 30 km (1:48:27). First place was never under threat for the Italian who passed 35 km in 2:07:21 with a gap of 1:53 over the Spaniard. Mancini
“After Gherasim dropped out, I had to run most of the race alone in the lead,” said Mancini, who secured her third win in Padua in 2:35:24. “The very warm day affected our race in the final 12 km.”
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Leading Results:
Men -
1. Francis Kirwa (Finland), 2:11:00
2. Alberico Di Cecco (Italy), 2:13:09
3. Haron Toroitich (Kenya), 2:13:24
4. Amos Masai (Uganda), 2:16:09
5. Scott Westcott (Australia), 2:16:28
6. Hamed Nasef (Morocco), 2:17:14
Women -
1. Marcella Mancini (Italy), 2:35:24
2. Dolores Pulido (Spain), 2:39:24
3. Josephine Wangoi Njoki (Kenya), 2:48:19
