By Chris Wamalwa in USA
On a near perfect, windless day that seemed made for African marathon runners, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya flew over five New York bridges, breaking away from the so called elite team in the final six miles to shatter a decade-old course record by more than two and a half minutes.
New York Marathon champion Geoffrey Mutai (centre) with Ambassador Josephine Ojiambo on the right and Julie Nerima Ojiambo pose at the press briefing stand after the New York marathon on Sunday. Photo: Chris Wamalwa/Standard |
With song and dance, and tusker lager as one Kenyan living in the Bronx told The Standard on phone, Sunday afternoon and many hours later in the US belonged to Kenyans as one of the biggest story on both local and national television and radio was the spectacular win by the Kenyan trio of Geoffrey Mutai, Emmanuel Mutai and Mary Keitany in the New York Marathon held Sunday.
READ MORE
How Kenyan athletics stars pumped billions into the economy
"New York city is abuzz with the Kenyan win. I'm on facebook and twitter with my friends still celebrating and marveling at our teams win," said Peter Kerre from New York city.
"Geoffrey Mutai had assured me last night that he felt good in body and spirit and that he was confident he will win. Indeed, these are our true ambassadors and as a country, what we have to think about is how to make them feel appreciated so that they can continue flying our flag," said Elkanah Odembo, Kenyan ambassador to the US.
On Friday, Mr Odembo and Dr Josephine Ojiambo, Kenyan Ambassador to the UN hosted a lavish private reception for the Kenyan elite runners where the true patriots were served with a specially made Ugali meal meant to help them load up their carbohydrate levels for the grueling event.
Wilson Kiriungi, the founder and CEO of Run with Kenyans while decrying the lack of a strong delegation from Kenya especially those charged with the responsibility of marketing Kenya, congratulated the winners saying he was proud to be associated with them because they cast Kenya in a positive light.
"I urge the government to be using such opportunities to market the country. Our runners give us free publicity," said Kiriungi.
Geoffrey Mutai captured the 2011 New York Marathon in 2 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds. Right on his shoulders as he broke the tape was his compatriot Emmanuel Mutai who finished second in 2:06:28. Tsegaye Kebede, 24, of Ethiopia finished third in 2:07:14. The official margin of victory, 1:22.31, was the largest in the race since 1992.
And the money was good too. The three men each earned a $70,000 bonus for breaking the course record (2:07:43, set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia in 2001). Emmanuel Mutai collected an additional $500,000 for winning the World Marathon Majors with his strong performances over the last two years. Geoffrey Mutai won a total of $200,000 for his victory and the record run on a day in which an event-record 47,438 competitors started.
"Although I won, the race was not easy," Geoffrey Mutai told the press.
But from the commentaries on television as the race progressed, many pundits favoured him given his history. In April this year, Mutai made the Boston Marathon course record in a world-best time of 2:03:02. The remarkable achievement was, however, in the end not sanctioned as a record because of the course’s elevation loss and because Boston’s start and finish were separated by more than 50 percent of the race distance.
In the women's race, Dado of Ethiopia took the women's title in 2:23:15 eclipsing compatriot Buzunesh Deba with the current London Marathon champ Mary Keitany of Kenya next in 2:23:39 in position three for the second year in a row.
Keitany surprised many when she surged to the lead from the start and spent most of the race alone ahead with nobody in sight.
