Martin Lel wins the 2007 Flora London Marathon (© Getty Images)
As a first move towards friendship, it was a peculiar start. Back in their school days in Kenya, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot was so angry at Martin Lel for using his bicycle without his permission that he started hitting him with a stick. It wasn’t a severe beating but Lel has never forgotten it.
Little can the two Kenyans have imagined all those years ago, at a time when they barely knew each other, that not only would they become the best of pals, they would develop into equally brilliant marathon runners. And both are poised to have something special to celebrate here in the next few days.
Cheruiyot is in New York to collect his US$500,000 prize, at an awards lunch on Monday (5), as the first men’s winner of the World Marathon Majors (WMM) series. Twenty-four hours earlier, Lel will seek to add the ING New York City Marathon title to the Flora London Marathon victory he achieved in April.
In recalling here how the two became close, Lel said that Cheruiyot had been “very annoyed” over the bicycle incident because he thought it may have been stolen. “I saw the bicycle but I did not know whose it was,” he said. “I thought it was for everybody to use and I rode it for five kilometres during a games period. But I apologised and we became great friends.”
Yet it was not that simple. The former fellow students at Chemuswa Secondary School, in the Nandi Hills, became separated when Cheruiyot’s family could no longer afford the school fees. They became best friends later through running.
Even before New York, the last race in the two-year cycle of the first WMM series, Cheruiyot is the confirmed winner, having taken two victories in Boston (2006/2007) and one in Chicago (2006). Lel, aged 29, the same as Cheruiyot, knows that victory on Sunday would put him out in front to become the second WMM champion next year.
Hampered by injury
Having beaten Samuel Wanjiru to win the Great North Run Half Marathon in Newcastle, England, on 30 September, Lel is optimistic that he can regain the New York title which he won in 2003 but was unable to defend because of injury in 2004. Injury also spoiled his plan to race New York in 2005.
To guard against further injury, Lel has raced sparingly since the London Marathon while training hard. “He is probably in the best shape of his life,” Federico Rosa, the athlete’s manager, said. That is some statement, given that, to win London seven months ago, Lel had to beat arguably the strongest marathon field ever assembled.
It included the Olympic champion (Stefano Baldini), the then World champion (Jaouad Gharib), the then World record holder (Paul Tergat), the defending London champion (Felix Limo) and the man who would go on, five months later, to break the World record, Haile Gebrselassie.
“When Haile broke the World record it was great for me because the guy who broke the World record was one time beaten by Martin Lel,” Lel said. “I was thinking that maybe one day I can be like him.” Gebrselassie’s 2:04.26 in the real,-Berlin Marathon is a target that Lel has set himself – but not until 2009. He added that he was “sure” he would break the World record one day.
World record aim but focussed on Beijing first
“The World record needs to be well planned so I can’t say anything about that now because I need to focus on being selected for the Olympics,” Lel said. In marked contrast to the United States Olympic trial, being staged here on Saturday (3), in which the first three runners know they will be picked for Beijing, provided they have the qualifying standard, Lel is unsure what he needs to do to gain selection for Kenya.
“We are trying to push them to make a pre-selection of five or six athletes which ideally should include Martin, Robert, Felix Limo, Luke Kibet (the World champion), Paul Tergat, if he wants to go, and maybe the new guy who ran well in Amsterdam (Emmanuel Mutai, 1st, 2:06.29),” Rosa said. “Then they can wait until May or June to decide out of the five or six who is going to run.”
On the hilly New York course, Lel is unlikely to improve his personal best of 2:06.41, set when finishing second to Limo in London in 2006. But his mind is on victory rather than time and especially on putting in the kind of performance which might help his claim for Olympic selection.
Kenya has yet to win an Olympic marathon title and Lel is determined to end the wait. ”It is very important for me to qualify for the Olympics and win an Olympic gold for Kenya,” he said. He added that he was interested in Tergat’s proposal to bring a group of Kenyans together for training to work towards breaking the World record.
“I would love to be part of the group,” Lel said. “I can learn a lot from Tergat.” For now, he lives and trains in Kapsabet, near Eldoret, in a camp of some 20 athletes. The group includes Patrick Ivuti, winner of the Chicago Marathon last month, and sometimes Cheruiyot.
Lel ran his first marathon, in Prague, in 2002 but failed to finish. In his second, in Venice, also in 2002, he placed runner-up and in 2003 he finished third in Boston, won New York, and also took the World Half Marathon title. He has since finished third in Boston again, won London twice and finished runner-up once.
From such results wealth accrues and Lel spends his on investing in tea plantations, farming and houses. He has also played a part in making his best friend richer. It was Lel’s victory in London which ruled other contenders out of the WMM title and as good as guaranteed Cheruiyot his $500,000 cheque. Consider the loan of bicycle paid off in full.
David Powell for the IAAF
