It was Kenya’s day at the London marathon on Sunday with both men’s champion Evans Rutto and women’s winner Margaret Okayo finishing first on their debuts at the event.
Rutto broke away from compatriot Sammy Korir in the closing stages after both men recovered from a heavy fall — the winner bringing down the runner-up — on wet cobblestones 4,8km from the finish.
Rutto — who made the fastest-to-date marathon debut when he won in Chicago in October but who has yet to secure selection for Kenya’s Olympic team for the forthcoming Olympic Games in Athens — finished in an unofficial time of two hours, six minutes and 18 seconds.
Korir was second in 2:06,48 with last year’s world champion, Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, third in 2:07,02.
”It feels great to be champion of London,” said Rutto, who had cuts on his knees from the fall.
”I thought I was stronger than Sammy but the rain wasn’t good.”
Korir blamed the fall for losing the race.
”I thought I could win but for that — I hurt my leg,” said Korir, who is the world’s second-fastest marathon runner to date.
Last year’s winner, Gezahegne Abera, failed to finish after suffering a recurrence of the Achilles tendon injury that forced him out of the world championships last August.
Down the field Britain’s Jon Brown, fourth in the Sydney Olympic marathon, achieved his aim of attaining the two hours and 15 minutes qualifying mark for Athens.
Brown put a row with organisers over an appearance fee behind him to finish in a time of 2:13,39.
In the women’s race Okayo won in extraordinary fashion. She set off at breakneck speed and appeared to have mistimed her run when she was passed shortly before the 17,6km mark by Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
But the diminutive prison sergeant, twice a New York marathon winner, recovered and regained the lead 9,6km from the finish before winning with something to spare in an unofficial time of 2:22,36.
Lyudmila Petrova of Russia, fifth in last year’s race, finished strongly in the closing stages to overtake Tomescu-Dita for second place although the Romanian did cling on to third place. — Sapa-AFP