Four Quick Takes on the 2015 BMW Berlin Marathon and Eliud Kipchoge’s Amazing 2:04:00 Win With His Shoe Insoles Falling Out

2015 Berlin Marathon - BMW Berlin Marathon

by LetsRun.com
September 27, 2015

In case you did not stay up late or wake up in the middle of the night, we’ve got everything you need to know about the 2015 BMW Berlin Marathon below with our quick takes.

On the men’s side, #1 marathoner in the world Eliud Kipchoge put on a performance for the ages as he ran an amazing 2:04:00 despite running most of the race with the insoles falling out of his shoes. He ran almost even splits and pulled away from the field the final 10km. Behind him Reid Coolsaet just missedthe Canadian record and Matt Llano ran a 2:12:28 PR. On the women’s side, World Half Marathon Champ Gladys Cherono joined the sub 2:20 club with the win on the women’s side. *IAAF Recap *Results *Photos of Kipchoge’s shoes. *Live Race Blow by Blow Thread

Eliud Kipchoge Runs With His Insoles Falling Out

1) Eliud Kipchoge Proves He’s #1 in the World (And He Didn’t Even Need His Shoes To Do It)

The fact Eliud Kipchoge won Berlin while running most of the race with his insoles falling out of his shoes is incomprehensible to us. Running 4:43 per mile for 26 miles in a row is amazing. Doing it with the insoles flapping out of your shoes is not comprehensible. The next time someone tells us some little thing was off during their own marathon we’ll just send them to a picture of Kipchoge in Berlin.

Hopefully, Kipchoge gets some mainstream press for his accomplishment and while they are marveling at him running 4:43 pace with insoles flapping around, hopefully they note he is the top marathoner in the world and that his run all but guaranteed him at least a share of $500,000 for winning the Abbott World Marathon Major Title (people can tie him).

The other two guys in contention for World’s Greatest Marathoner were Wilson Kipsang and Dennis Kimetto and Kipchoge beat them both at the London Marathon in April. Kipsang and Kimetto both ran the recent world champs in Beijing and finished off the podium while Kipchoge won his fourth straight marathon and 3rd straight WMM. (Rotterdam 2014, Chicago 2014, London 2015, Berlin 2015).

Gladys Cherono 2015 Champion

2) No name Kenyan Cherono Gladys wins Women’s Race – Not
While we were marveling at Kipchoge’s run, a thread was started on our forums about the women’s winner. The thread simply was: “No name Kenyan Cherono Gladys wins Berlin Marathon, big red flag.”

The big problem is everything with the thread is it is wrong.

Before today Gladys Cherono had:

Article continues below player.

Now she’s joined the sub 2:20 club and the World Marathon Major winner’s club with her 2:19:25 win.

Her lack of familiarity is an indictment on the popularity of our sport, or many people’s inclination to group the accomplishments of some of the sport’s top stars together as being from a bunch of nameless Africans.

Matt Llano Pre-Race in Berlin

3) Matt Llano And The Americans

What about the Americans? Northern Arizona Elite runner Matt Llano lead the USA charge with a 13th place finish in a big PB of 2:12:28. This was a big improvement for Llano who hadn’t ran great in his first two marathons, a 2:17:42 debut in Chicago (24th place) and 2:16:13 in LA (6th place). Llano has been dreaming big about a fast marathon ever since he ran 61:47 at the US Half Champs in 2014 and got attention on the message boards when he talked about going sub-2:10 in his debut in Chicago last year. Here he got closer to his goal as he went through halfway in 1:04:57 (so just under 2:10 pace) and held on through 35K where he went through in 1:48:18 (still on pace for a 2:10:33). Even though he faded a bit in the last few miles to 2:12, Llano seemed pleased with the effort as he tweeted:

2:12:28 for 13th place & 4 minute PB in Berlin today. Not quite there yet, but making progress and getting stronger. 2:10 pace through 36k.

— Matt Llano (@MattLlano) September 27, 2015

The other American men we mentioned in our preview didn’t fare as well as Llano. 2:12-man Shadrack Biwott dropped out sometime between 30K and 35K and Gabe Proctor failed to improve on his 2:13:45 PR from Chicago last year as he ran 2:15:54. Sean Quigley was on the start lists, but doesn’t appear in results so we assume he never started.

On the women’s side, 30-year-old Hilary Dionne was the top American, running 2:34:45 for 19th place. This was a small improvement on her 2:35:08 PB from the 2014 Boston Marathon. American-born Columbia University grad (now running for Croatia) Lisa Nemec was also racing and placed 7th in 2:27:57.

MB: Americans Matt Llano (2:12:28) and Hilary Dionne (2:34:45) finish in top 20 in Berlin

4) Reid Coolsaet Comes Up 19 Seconds Short of Canadian Record

Jerome Drayton’s Canadian marathon record of 2:10:09 from 1975 almost certainly will live to turn 40 on December 7th after Reid Coolsaet ran 2:10:28 to pr but come up just short of the Canadian record.

You know Drayton’s record is impressive when people are now pointing out that Coolsaet has the Canadian born record. Turns out Jerome Drayton was born in the Germany as Peter Buniak and changed his name after immigrating to Canada.

More: *Live Race Blow by Blow Thread
*IAAF Recap of Race

Results:

place

number

Name

club

Brutto

Finish

» Kipchoge, Eliud (KEN)

M30

Kenia