A slow start and a fast finish. That was this years London Marathon.
Über-Marathoner Sammy Wanjiru got his first defeat over the classic distance,
After a steady but relatively slow (63:10) first half a group of 12, including 3 pacemakers, was travelling through the rainy streets of London. All favourites were in that group.
It was the 28th kilometer mark that saw an attack by Kirui. The only guys that could respond were Kebede, Mutai and Bouramdane. None of the pre-race favourites were in that group.
The 4 man pack did not stick together for long aswell. Kebede and Kirui became the forefront of the race and increased the tempo steadily of the next miles. The gap between the leaders and the chasing runners opened up quick. No sign of Wanjiru or Kibet, Tadese or Gharib...
Kilometer 30 was passed by Kebede and Kirui in 1:28:46. After that they still picked up the pace. The slow first half seemed to pay off for them.
Finally it was the 23 year old ethopian and two time Fukuoka champion Tsegay Kebede who attacked again at 33k and broke away from Kirui, who got overtaked by Emanuel Mutai at the 40k mark, to finish in a blasting time of 02:05:19.
1. Kebede - 02:05:19
2. Mutai - 02:06:22
3. Gharib - 02:06:54
4. Bouramdane - 02:07:??
5. Kirui - 2:08:04
6. ?
7. Tadese - 2:12:03
8. Lemocello - 2:13:??
(all times are unofficial)
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