Kenyan Henry Tarus runs to victory in front of a glass made statue called "The runner " during the Athens Classic Marathon race (© AFP / Getty Images)
Under a sunny sky but in cool weather temperatures today, Kenya’s Henry Tarus (2:17:45) and Japan’s Chikako Ogushi (2:40:45) respectively became the winners of the men’s and women’s competitions at the 24th Athens Classic Marathon. As usual the difficulties of the extremely tough course suppressed the final finishing times of the winners.
The victors received not only the traditional crowns of wild olive but also a prize of 6000 euros each, awarded by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, who attended the race this year.
MEN - Kenyans dominate
Henry Tarus became the winner of the men’s race exhibiting not just more strength than his opponents in the latter part of the race, but also a lot more patience. This combination meant that Paul Lomol Lopio and Ben Chebet, the runners who led the race almost from the gun to the 39th kilometre, were eventually out manoeuvred by Tarus, 27, who has a personal best of 2:10:10 (2001).
In the final kilometres of the race with this leading duo looking like they would carry on to a certain one – two finish in the Panathinaikon Stadium, Tarus made what ultimately would be the decisive surge taking advantage of the leaders’ tiredness and the downhill section of the course at this point of the race. In this assault Tarus, a former winner of the Prague and Madrid marathons, managed to break down the lead of about 300 metres which they held on him, and crossed the line the victor in 2:17:45.
Paul Lomol Lopio was next across in 2:18:07, with Ethiopia’s Habtamu Bekele coming through late to take third place with 2:20:04, while last year’s winner Kenya’s James Saina was 6th with 2:20:18. Ben Chebet who was on the top for the greatest part of the race finally came home a tired 9th with 2:25:08.
A Greek runner, Ioannis Kanellopoulos, was 7th overall and so secured the Greek national title in what was his marathon debut. The just 25-year-old runner (birthday on 13 October) first became known in 2003 when he won the 10,000m at the European U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Another Greek debutant, the former athlete of rowing Dimitrios Theorikakos, was 8th overall and second in national championships classification.
Women - Ogushi wins with last sprint
The women’s race was decided less than 100 metres to go before the entrance of the Stadium, as three runners, Japan’s Chikako Ogushi, and two Ethiopians Hatish Letay and Zinash Alemu were until then together neck and neck. The 27-year-old Japanese runner proved to be the stronger at the end, taking the win in 2:40:45. Letay placed second with 2:40:53, leaving third position to her teammate Alemu with 2:42:02.
It was Ogushi’s fourth marathon race of her career and the second in 2006, as she was sixth in Nagano, Japan, last April in her PB of 2:40:00.
The Greek runner Eleni Donta clocked 2:44:43 to take 5th place and the national title, putting an end to Georgia Ambatzidou's dominance. Ambatzidou had won 5 national titles in a row from 2001 to 2005 by winning the Athens Classic Marathon.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF
Leading results
NB. updated: gun times now shown.Men
1 Henry Tarus KEN 2:17:46
2 Paul Lomol Lopio KEN 2:18:08
3 Habtamu Bekele ETH 2:20:04
4 Marc Saina KEN 2:20:20
5 Fujimoto Daikuse JPN 2:20:43
6 James Saina KEN 2:21:19
7 Ioannis Kanellopoulos GRE 2:24:23
8 Dimitrios Theodorakakos GRE 2:24:39
Women
1 Chikako Ogushi JPN 2:40:47
2 Letay Hadish ETH 2:40:53
3 Zinash Alemu ETH 2:42:02
4 Salomie Jetnet Kassa ETH 2:42:59
5 Eleni Donta GRE 2:44:47
6 Tatyana Mironova RUS 2:44:50
