LONDON 2010 UPDATE THREAD

kebeded wins in 2:05:18

I guess 2:05s is the norm now days.

Mutai in second about 2:06:21

Mutai just lost his breakfast. And Kirui's finally finshed in 5th ~ 2:08:04

Tadesse really really tired

tadese in 2:12:02

Tadese looks worn out. 2:12:03. 7th.

Tadesse's finish was just painful to watch.

Holy crap. Tadese TOTALLY HUMBLED by the marathon!!!

wanjiru has been humbled even worse I still haven't seen him yet

Haile is celebrating. He was scared as hell but he is drinking tea now. I wonder what could have happened with Martin Lel in it. Maybe we should have had Deriba Merga just hammer it hard from the beginning for them.

I am so glad am/was not in the prediction-business! ;) Who had thought of Wanjiru and Rastaman DNF?

EB19999 wrote:

It only takes one of us to spoil the party :)

Kenyanna wrote:

Its over. Kebede has widened the gap. He will not be caught. Bravo Ethio neighbours. Your guy has been the strongest on the day.

Well, we can't win everything. Kudos to Kebede, I'm still in awe. I'm worried about Wanjiru though, did he drop out? Very unlike him.

Can't wait for makau and kebede to go hammer and tongues.

I just realised Subukova would have made the top 15 in the men's. That is just unreal.

where are the results?

For one I knew Kibet was not in shape-he even said that himself. Also Wanjiru expresses doubts and pointed to Kebede as the man to watch. From his performances since last at Chicago, I thought Wanjiru was not even going to show up at London. Kebede's star has been rising and I believed this was the right time for him to be crowned the Emperor. The only man I expected to give him a hard time was Abel and sure enough that is what it all came down to. Wanjiru needs at least a year to recover and start all over again. He is young and he can afford that kind of rest. Then hopefully he can go for the world record in 2012. Otherwise we might not see anymore of him.

in London you don't get your appearance money if you don't finish, hence the slow times of the men and women, eg. Tadessa and Deena

cpr wrote:

Now I realize why everybody thinks Peking was probably the best marathon of all time -- WE GOT TO ACTULLAY WATCH THE BLOODY RACE

Please forgive the self-quote but this my main result from today.

Why has Wanjiru the reputation that focussed most of the hype on him before London 2010? Because we actually saw him RACING for 2 hours.

As an aspiring marathoner he used that stage in Peking to brand himself. Todays DNF (I think so at least) will not hurt him much in terms of marketability.

In all other marathons you cannot expect TV exposure and even as the winner you will be one of those unpronouncable two-oh-something runner from thisorthat city marathon.

That elite women headstart has failed as a concept -- they are running a slow first half (in terms of WR pace) with epic TV exposure, unthratened by 2nd class female athletes.