It wasn’t anything close to 2014’s tactical sprint-to-the-finish win, but Kenya’s Mary Keitany looked just as euphoric at the finish line of Sunday’s 45th New York City Marathon as she did at the finish line of the 44th. Her unofficial time was 2 hours 24 minutes 25 seconds, according to The New York Times. The math says it all.
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By 20 miles the lead group was being strung out by Keitany and Tufa.
“I knew I needed to hit that hill as hard as I could in the beginning, no matter how painful it was”, she said.
“I am well prepared”, said Kipsang, per Nation.co.ke. “Hey Meb”, I said as coolly as possible. Overall, this is her fourth win in the Big Apple.
Mergia is also coming back from a long break.
Her triumph this year was less nerve-wracking than her three-second win of 2014. Keitany’s victory ties her for first place with 50 points in the women’s rankings with Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia.
Keitany and Tufa were again head-to-head after their battle in London in April.
Stanley Biwott won his first major marathon title to complete the Kenyan sweep.
“During my previous marathons I was not able to run the last five kilometers at a consistent speed”. Being in second position is good for me because I still have time. “The last two miles was unbelievable”, he said. We still have many hills remaining.’ You know to save your energy and not try to speed up so much.
He certainly needed that late speed against countryman Geoffrey Kamworor, who’s more a track star than a marathoner.
There was more drama to come. Kamworor won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the world championships in August. I think that would be the key, actually. Reigning Boston Marathon champ Lelisa Desisa was third.
Biwott’s endurance training paid off, and he never faltered.
First-time marathon runner Miriam Rauchenecker and Bernhard Schuster (first NYC marathon, third overall) journeyed from Austria because of the scope of the NYC race.
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Marathon organizer New York Road Runners moved Berni into an earlier start time so that he would be able to get back to Queens before Game 5 on Sunday night.
