The Week That Was Feb. 25 - March 2, 2008 March 5, 2008
*Last week's week in review can be found here By LetsRun.com
The week was full of action around the globe, including the richest race ever in terms of prize money. In America, the college indoor conference action dominated (If you haven't run in college, you don't get how important conference is - it so wiped us out that this weekly recap is a day late).
The Richest Race In The World - The Zayed Half Marathon
The Arabs have bought up horse racing. They've bought up many of the top Kenyan runners. Now it appears they are buying up road racing. Last month, they put the richest marathon in the world in terms of first-place prize money at the Dubai Marathon. Last week, it was the world's richest road race - the $2 million Zayed International Half Marathon which featured a $300,000 first prize. The race seemingly was put on with little advance notice but the big payday did pick up a few big names. On the men's side, the man who we think is the greatest road runner on the planet, Sammy Wanjiru, got the $300,000 win in 1:00:33.
In the women's race, Lornah Kiplagat got her 2nd win in 5 days after jetting in from Puerto Rico after winning the World's Best 10k in Puerto Rico.
Suggestion for next year, if the race spent $100,000 on an elite race coordinator, we think they could attract an unreal field. Meanwhile, we found it interesting that the IAAF was trumpeting the prize money offered at its upcoming world indoor championships - $2.45 million total. Should we just let the Arabs pay for the world indoors?
MEN -
1. Samuel Wanjiru, KEN 1:00:33 USD 300,000
2. Fabiano Joseph, TAN 1:00:43 100,000
3. Eshetu Wondimu, ETH 1:01:16 50,000
4. Tsegaye Kebede, ETH 1:01:45 20,000
5. Dieudonne Disi, RWA 1:02:24 10,000
WOMEN -
1. Lornah Kiplagat, NED 1:08:52 USD 300,000
2. Berhane Adere, ETH 1:11:23 100,000
3. Gete Wami, ETH 1:11:30 50,000
4. Hilda Kibet, NED 1:11:37 20,000
5. Rita Jeptoo, KEN 1:12:24 10,000
Lake Biwa Marathon
Mubarak Hassan Sham pulled away from Eritrea's Yared Asmeros over the final 6km to win the 2008 Lake Biwa Marathon. Shami is someone that people definitely should look out for at the Beijing Olympics as he's a very good marathoner. He has now won six of his last seven marathons, with his lone non-win being a 2nd place showing at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka.
The race for first may have been over, but the race for Japan's final Olympic bid was still very much going on as Lake Biwa was the final Olympic selection race for the Japanese men. Japan had 4 Olympic selection races and in order for someone to make the team here it was thought he'd need to run faster than the 2:08:40 that Arata Fujiwara ran in the Tokyo Marathon 3 weeks ago. Japan's Satoshi Osaki did exactly that as he ran 2:08:36 to finish 3rd.
Osaki certainly is a deserving Olympian as he was 6th in the world championships marathon last summer in Osaka. That being said, it's a bit of a bummer to see Fujimari left off the squad as he was the ultimate LetsRun.com posterboy. Talk about "Where your dreams become reality." The guy ran a 30 minute pr to apparently make the Olympic team - only to see someone edge him by 4 seconds. Such a cruel sport at times!!!
But a big thumbs up to Osaki who knew exactly what he needed to do and did it. He said, "At the end I was thinking about the Beijing (Olympics) and kept on pushing. I was not going to give up, said Osaki. Very well done.
Drugs, Drugs, Drugs
A week in the running world wouldn't be complete unless there was a major competitor banned for drugs. This week certainly didn't disappoint as former Berlin Marathon winner and two time runnerup in New York, Susan Chepkemei, received a one year ban. As is usual, Chepkemei had an excuse for the illegal drugs being in her system but a ban is a ban in our books. However, a one year ban for a woman who is currently pregnant doesn't seem like much of a ban. Seems very convenient in our minds.
In other drugs news, admitted EPO cheat, Cathal Lombard, shocked all of Ireland including himself by winning the Irish cross country nationals. Alistair Cragg was 2nd. Irish XC is man's cross country as the courses are often complete mud baths so maybe it's possible Cragg had trouble with the course but we find it sickening to see Lombard back in the sport. The guy purposely admitted he took EPO. It doesn't get any worse than that. We do give him credit for admitting once caught but to us a major drug offense like that warrants a longer ban than two years. They should make it at least four years and a lifetime ban would be fine in our book.
Cragg's post-race comments were right on the money. After being asked if Lombard was clean he said, "I am not sitting in his bedroom every day. I have got
no harsh feelings for him. He beat me fair and square today. If he
tests positive again, then I'll have something to say about it."
The Kenyan cross country championships are always a very big deal for running aficionados as short of the world cross country, the race is probably the best xc race in the world. However, this year, the race wasn't close to being the biggest news coming out of Kenya this week. There was much bigger and more important news on the political front. Thankfully, a power sharing agreemtent has been reached in Kenya. Time will only tell if this means the bloodshed comes to a stop.
Meanwhile, at the Kenyan xc championships, Gideon Ngatunyi (4th at world's last year) sprinted to victory on the men's side as 19-year old Grace Momanyi got the women's title.
LA Marathon Considering the low opinion we have of Devine Racing, the company that puts on this race, we hesitate to mention the race but figure we have to. In case you aren't familiar with Devine, they are famous in running circles for not paying their elites on time in the past. The LA Marathon is interesting as it offers a $100,000 "Equalizer" bonus to the winner of the overall race, with the women getting a 19:04 head start. The gimmick has created some great drama in the past. This year, however, Devine's poor reputation apparently greatly reduced the quality of racers that showed up as they likely weren't sure if they'd get paid. As a result, Tatiana Aryasova ended up with a huge payday for her relatively modest 2:29 clocking.
Instead of complaining that a 2:29 marathoner can pick up a $100,000 pay day, we'll do the opposite and say, "It's about time." Do you realize that a single minor league golf tournament in the US has a prize purse of $631,000?
Meanwhile, the race may be remembered as the one where the race director in an article on how tough women marathoners are nowadays said, "You can't get them back in the kitchen." No, we're not making that up.
MEN (gun times) - 1. Laban Moiben, 24, Marietta, GA (KEN) 2:13:50 CR* $20,000 + Car# 2. Christopher Kiprotich, 26, KEN 2:14:19 12,000 3. Khalid Kamal Yaseen^, 25, BRN 2:15:24 7,500 4. Augustus Kavutu, 31, KEN 2:16:01 5,000 5. Franklin Tenorio, 38, ECU 2:16:29 2,500 6. Odilon Cuahutle, 37, MEX 2:16:42 1,500 7. Benson Mbithi, 29, KEN 2:17:01 1,000 8. Lamech Mokono, 28, KEN 2:18:41 500 9. Edward Kiptum, 29, KEN 2:19:21 10. Dmitry Safronov, 27, RUS 2:19:41 11. Mark Batres, 23, UsA 2:20:18 12. Christian Villavicencio, 31, NIC 2:27:56 40+ Fermin Sequen, 40, ??? 2:34:34 *Course record; previous 2:17:14, Fred Mokaka (KEN), 2007 ^Was Peter Ndegwa of Kenya #Honda Accord EX-L V6 (value = $28,000)
WOMEN/All Women's Race (gun times) - 1. Tatiana Aryasova, 28, RUS 2:29:09 DB/CR* $20,000 + Car# + 100,000^^ 2. Yulia Gromova, 33, RUS 2:34:12 12,000 3. Jacqueline Nytipei, 24, KEN 2:37:47 7,500 4. Mary Ptikany, 30, KEN 2:40:12 5,000 5. Claudia Camargo, 26, Danbury, CT (ARG) 2:45:17 2,500 6. Jennifer Derego, 29, San Luis Obispo, CA 2:46:24 1,500 7. Tatiana Titova, 42, RUS 2:51:32 1,000 (No other finishers reported) #Honda Accord EX-L V6 (value = $28,000) ^^Banco Popular Challenge bonus for first athlete to cross finish line (19:38 handicap)
Continued: Page 2 of the Week That Was: We praise some of the heroes from the collegiate American action including LSU's John Kosgei, Wisco's Brandon Bethke, Minnesota's Heather Dorniden, Georgetown's Joanna Rogers, Cornell's Jeomi Maduka,Curtis Vollmar and the Eastern Michigan men as well as D3 stars Erin Kelly and Peter Kosgei. Got an opinion, news, info, or results? How about a name for our column? "The Week That Was" is not too catchy.
Email us at letsrun@letsrun.com
*Last week's week in review can be found here