Geoffrey Mutai Wins New York Marathon With Course Record



Geoffrey Mutai breaking the tape in the record time of 2:05:06.



Firehiwot Dado caught Mary Keitany in Central Park to win the New York City Marathon in her debut


November 6, 2011
Geoffrey Mutai Wins New York Marathon With Course Record
By LIZ ROBBINS
Race after race this year, the footsteps kept getting faster as runners approached the limits of marathon performance. Course records had fallen in frenzied fashion at the other major marathons — Boston, London, Chicago and Berlin, where the world record was set.

Would New York, the hilliest of the majors, follow that blistering path for a record on its own course?

If so, Geoffrey Mutai was the man to do it, and he did not disappoint on a gloriously crisp New York day.

Not quite seven months after shattering the Boston Marathon record in a world-best time of 2 hours 3 minutes 2 seconds — a time that was ultimately not sanctioned as a world record primarily because Boston is a point-to-point course — Mutai crushed the New York record, which had stood for a decade.

Mutai, a 30-year-old Kenyan, dashed past the finish line in 2:05:06, beating the 2:07:43 course record set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia in 2001. But he was not the only one who bettered the old record: Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya finished second in 2:06:28 and Tsegaye Kebede third in 2:07:13. All three men will receive bonuses of $70,000 for going under the previous record.

Geoffrey Mutai also won $130,000 for winning the race.

Last year’s winner, Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia, was fourth in 2:08:00. Meb Keflezighi of the United States, who won here in 2009, finished sixth with a personal-best 2:09:13.

The world record is 2:03:38, set by Patrick Makau of Kenya in Berlin on Sept. 25.

A world best has not been seen on the New York course in three decades, when the American Alberto Salazar ran 2:08:13 in 1981. That era is long gone, replaced by a brave, blistering new crop of runners who are gunning, someday, to break two hours.

On this first Sunday in November along with a record starting field of 47,107, Geoffrey Mutai made this a race to remember.

With a bold move in the Bronx to separate himself from a tight pack of seven men, Mutai broke open the race before charging back into Manhattan. He ran the final six miles alone, his victory never in doubt.

Mutai said the New York course was tough.

“I try at the last minute to push it a little more,” said Mutai, who is not related to Emmanuel Mutai. “We all worked together — and then it was time to push it. For me, I was trying to run my own race.”

For Mutai, the exhilaration and ultimate deflation of his Boston performance served as motivation while training in the remote hills of Ethiopia’s Central Rift Valley. He trains without a coach, with a group of about 50 runners. This way, he can tell himself just what to do.

Mutai acknowledged that he was disappointed by not being able to call his 2:03:02 a world record. It was not sanctioned as a record course because of the elevation loss and because its start and finish were separated by more than 50 percent of the race distance.

Did he consider himself a world-record holder? “I am still fighting to be,” he said.

Emmanuel Mutai, who won the London Marathon in the spring with a course record, collected a $500,000 consolation by finishing second here and winning the World Marathon Majors series.


Mutai sets NYC Marathon mark; Dabo top female
The Sports Xchange


Geoffrey Mutai can officially claim the fastest time in New York City Marathon history —even if his record time for all marathons, earned in Boston, seven months ago was not deemed official.

Muttai shattered the New York City course record Sunday with a time of two hours, five minutes and six seconds—about a minute-and-a-half faster than the old record, set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia.

Firehiwot Dado completed a stunning comeback to capture the women's title.

Mutai said his final push in the Bronx, in the five-borough, 26.2-mile race, clinched it for him.

"I try at the last minute to push it a little more," Mutai, who made his separation move in the Bronx, told reporters after the five-borough race. "We all worked together—and then it was time to push it. For me, I was trying to run my own race."

The 30-year-old did not, however, top his record for the quickest time in marathon history. He set that in Boston last April in 2:03:02. The mark was not dubbed an official world record though because the course was labeled too straight and downhill. While Mutai acknowledged disappointment at not having the official mark, he said he was happy to be at that level and that he was "fighting to be" the record-holder.

Jifar had run the race in 2011 in a time of 2:07:43, but will now go down as having the fourth best time in race history. Emmanuel Mutai, who is not related to the race winner, finished second Sunday. The Kenyan also passed Jifar with a time of 2:06:28. So did Tsegaye Kebede, of Ethiopia, who was third at 2:07:13.

Mutai, of Kapng'etuny, Kenya, earned a total of $200,000 in taking the race ($130,000) and setting the course record ($70,000).

London Marathon champion Mary Keitany led Dado for the women's title by almost 2 ½ minutes with 11 miles to go, but Dado, of Ethiopia, surprised Keitany by passing her with a mile to go.

Dado won with a time of 2:23:15, beating fellow Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba, a fan favorite who lives in the Bronx, by four seconds. Keitany finished third by 23 seconds.

"Because she'd been running so fast from the very beginning, I didn't imagine that we'd catch her," Dado said after the race of Keitany, who was on a course-record pace before tiring. "But when we did get closer and we saw her, I was very surprised and I was very happy."

A record 47,107 runners started the race.

Winner Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia (L), second place Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia celebrate following the ING New York City Marathon November 6, 2011 in New York. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)









[img]http://Winner Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya (C) stands on the podium with second place Emmanual Mutai of Kenya (L) and third place Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia following the ING New York City Marathon November 6, 2011 in New York. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)[/img]

Once again, africans are making us proud