After two Ethiopian victories in the past two
years this edition was dominated by the Kenyans again. Charles
Cheryuiot (2:10:09), Suleiman Simotwo (2:10:15), Silas Limo (2:10:16) and Raymond Choge (2:11:07) finished in places two to five. There was however an Ethiopian winner in the women’s race: Shuko Genemo ran 2:24:31, which is the second fastest time in the history of the event. Debutant Ruti Aga of Ethiopia was second in 2:25:27 while Kenya’s Doris Chengeywo followed well behind with 2:31:50.
Exactly
42,511 runners from 126 nations entered the various events of the 33rd
Vienna City Marathon, which is Austria’s biggest sporting event and an
IAAF Gold Label Road Race. This is the second highest entry figure in
the history of the race and just around 200 runners short of the record.
It is the fourth time in a row that the Vienna City Marathon registered
more than 40,000 athletes.
Despite the wind blowing off
banners on the course before the start of the race the men’s leaders
tried their best to stick to the planned pace. In wind gusts of up to 45
kilometres per hour a group of two pacemakers and seven contenders
reached the half way mark in 63:59. While they were still on course for a
sub 2:08 finish hopes for a fast time were soon blown away.
A 30 k split time of 1:31:35 indicated that the winning time would be more like 2:09 than 2:07
and with continuing winds the pace dropped further. While highly
regarded debutant David Kogei of Kenya, who features a half marathon PB
of 59:46 was dropped before the 20 k mark and later dropped out with
back problems at 30 k, the fastest runner in the field lost contact just
before the 30 k mark. Levy Matebo Omari (Kenya), who has a PB of 2:05:16 and was hoping for a comeback in Vienna, later dropped out as well.
Six
runners were still in contention at the 30 k point: Chemosin,
Cheruiyot, Simotwo, Limo, Choge and Ethiopia’s Shengo Kebede. Simotwo,
who is a former 1,500 m runner with a PB of 3:31.67, had already put in
two or three surges. And he started another one before 36 k. It looked
decisive as he was able to build a lead, but Chemosin and Cheruiyot
caught him again. Without Simotwo’s efforts the winning time would
probably have been around 2:11 instead of sub 2:10.
But the Kenyan had lost too much energy with his surges and could not
respond when Robert Chemosin broke away with three kilometres to go.
„When we were reaching 39 k I knew I had to attack. Simotwo tried to get
away a couple of times, but I felt strong,“ said Robert Chemosin, who
has a PB of 2:08:05. „I felt fine, but it was very hard to run against the wind.“
The
best result of the day came in the women’s race and it was a surprise
that Shuko Genemo was the one who produced it. Right from the start the
Ethiopian was running in the leading group, passing 10 k in 34:17.
Fellow-Ethiopians Ruti Aga, Guteni Shone and Meseret Kitata as well as
Kenya’s Doris Changeywo were also in the group. While Kitata fell behind
before 15 k it was then Shone who was dropped just before half way
(72:10).
The women’s leaders were running a pace that was not far off the 16 year-old course record of 2:23:47. But in the blustery conditions there was no chance to improve this time. Changeywo, who had entered with a PB of 2:44:26
from her debut race in Singapore, lost contact after 25 k and was then a
minute behind the leaders at 30 k. Genemo carried on and finally
dropped debutant Aga with around five kilometres to go. Celebrating her
biggest career win the 20 year-old also achieved a fine personal best.
It was in Hengshui (China) where she had clocked her first sub 2:30 time last year with 2:27:29. This year she already won the Mumbai Marathon in January in 2:27:50. „It was cold and windy, which made it difficult to run fast. In perfect conditions I could have run 2:22 today,“ said Shuko Genemo.
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