ESPN Will Have to Cover Chicago Now

okay so i missed it, what did he trip on- what happen?

As he hit the finish line, he put his hands in the air and his foot slipped on the Lasalle Bank Chicago banner thing that was painted on the road right in front of the finish mat. His feet went out from under him and his head smashed on the road. Looked pretty painful. Feel bad for the guy, running a great race and then having that happen at the end. Hope he's okay.

He did trip, he slipped on the logo as he braked at the finish.

slipped wrote:

As he hit the finish line, he put his hands in the air and his foot slipped on the Lasalle Bank Chicago banner thing that was painted on the road right in front of the finish mat. His feet went out from under him and his head smashed on the road. Looked pretty painful. Feel bad for the guy, running a great race and then having that happen at the end. Hope he's okay.

It wasn't painted. It was a big sign stuck to the ground...this is why it was removed before the masses came across.

man, i bet the idiot who decided to put that down feels great right now...

I wasn't sure if it was painted or something stuck to the ground. I thought something being stuck to the ground would be really stupid so they wouldn't do that. Apparently I was wrong, they were that stupid.

If they DNF Cheruiyot imagine the coeverage ESPN will give it! Might even make around-the-horn and PTI tomorrow.

wishfull thinking!

is there a video of hte finish and him falling?

Yes, it's on another thread

maybe Cheruiyot will cross the finish line in the future before he starts his end zone dance

slipped wrote:

As he hit the finish line, he put his hands in the air and his foot slipped on the Lasalle Bank Chicago banner thing that was painted on the road right in front of the finish mat. His feet went out from under him and his head smashed on the road. Looked pretty painful. Feel bad for the guy, running a great race and then having that happen at the end. Hope he's okay.

Well there is still some speculation that it was "NOT" the Bank logo and actually the center striping on the road..if you have ever ran on a road and his one of those wet it is splippery. (also much like win in a swimming pool and you walk on the striping)

Speculate ignorantly all you want but he was well to the right of the center stripe, his feet were nowhere near it. Indicentally the video also shows his body entirely on the chip mat before race staff got to him so his torso crossed the line.

There is still some speculation that it was "NOT" the Bank logo and actually the center striping on the road...if you have ever ran on a road and stepped on one of those wet it is splippery.

Also much like when yourin a swimming pool and you walk on the striping.

He appears to be stepping between the logo's and directly in the middle of the road on the lines...which seperate the logos.

Look at the video and it's clear that there is plenty of space between him and the road stripes.

The logo posters also completley cover the road stripes in front of the finish line. Also BOTH feet wouldn't have gone out if it was just the stripe that was the cause.

From ESPN's home page .....

Updated: Oct. 22, 2006, 12:27 PM ET

Cheruiyot wins Chicago Marathon but falls, hits head

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=2634958

CHICAGO -- Robert Cheruiyot held off fellow Kenyan Daniel Njenga to win the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, slipping and banging his head near the finish line and taken away in a wheelchair.

Cheruiyot stayed down for several minutes after hitting his head. He left the course in a golf cart and headed to a hospital for a precautionary examination.

Although Cheruiyot slipped before the tape, he did cross the finish line. It was a painful ending to a race in which he sprinted away from Njenga in the final stretch and finished in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 35 seconds.

Ethiopia's Berhane Adere won the women's race in 2:20:42, followed by Russia's Galina Bogomolova. Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita dropped to fifth after leading the first 21 miles.

Cheruiyot made a push as the leaders turned off Michigan Avenue. Njenga drew even but couldn't keep pace and finished second in this race for the third time in five years. He was runner-up in 2002 and 2004 and placed third in 2003 and 2005.

Abdi Abdirahman, a U.S. citizen born in Somalia, moved from third to first on the 18th mile, as the pack thinned from about 12 men to five.

Cheruiyot made a move on the 21st mile, but couldn't pull away. Njenga, the 2004 Tokyo International winner, briefly moved to the front, with Cheruiyot and Jimmy Muindi right with them. The three were close as they headed up Michigan Avenue, but it became a two-man race on the way to the finish line.

With blustery winds and the temperature about 40 degrees, the conditions weren't ideal. But that didn't faze Tomescu-Dita early on.

She had a good history in Chicago and had eclipsed the world record while finishing second at the IAAF World Road Running Championship 20K on Oct. 8. She was hoping to finish in 2:20 -- 90 seconds under her personal-best time -- and had promised to jump ahead early.

She did just that.

Tomescu-Dita, last year's runner-up and the winner in 2004, was at 1:08:05 halfway through the 26-mile-plus race, more than two minutes ahead of Bogomolova. But Bogomolova and Berhane Adere of Ethiopia moved ahead just past the 23-mile mark. And Adere won her first marathon.

Cheruiyot and Adere each earned $125,000 for their victories.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Looking from a tough view, it really looked to me that he did NOT cross the line. Not that I'd want the victory taken away.

Video shots from above showed him entirely on the mat and thus across the line before the staff started picking him up.