World Record Holder Patrick Makau Battles Back To Win 2013 BMW Frankfurt Marathon as Meselech Melkamu Debuts With Win on Women’s Side

October 28, 2012
by LetsRun.com

It certainly wasn’t easy, but in the end, world record holder Patrick Makau battled back to get the victory at today’s Frankfurt Marathon. Several times Makau lost contact with the leader(s), including once before half-way, but in the end he rallied to win over 2012 world half marathon silver medallist Deressa Chimsa in 2:06:08 to Chemsa’s 2:06:52.

Competing in cold and near-freezing temperatures (the IAAF says it struggled to get to 35 at the finish), the world record attempt never materialized as the first 5k was covered in a modest 15:05 (that’s 2:07:15 pace) as the runners needed some time to warm-up. The pace would soon pick up as all of the 5k segments through 30k after the first one were run at a sub 15 5k clip.

10k was reached in 29:56, 15k in 44:43 and 20k in 59:35, meaning the first four 5k splits were as follows:

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15:05
14:51
14:47
14:52

The leaders went through the half in 62:52 and Makau was barely hanging on/had been dropped depending on how you looked at it at 62:55.

But by 25k 1:14:31 – 14:56 5k, Makau was right back in the lead group.

Between 30 and 35k, the first big break was made and it was the 35-year old Ethiopian Deressa Chimsa who took the lead. Chimsa, who came into the year as a 2:07:39 guy, has been enjoying a career year in 2012 as in January in ran 2:05:42 in Dubai before winning in Prague in May in 2:06:25. In October, he got the silver at the World Half Marathon Championships.

At 35k (1:44:24 – 14:56), Chemsa had a 4 second lead on Makau and 8 seconds on third fourth and fifth.

Had Chemsa put the dagger into the world record holder? Nope. By 40k, it was Makau who was in the lead at 1:59:33 to Chemsa’s 1:59:38 and Makau would go one to win by a lot in 2:06:08 to Chemsa’s 2:06:52.

Makau – Legs Didn’t Feel Good But It Was Enough To Win
After the race, Makau summed up his race perfectly by saying, “My legs weren’t good today, they weren’t reacting but I found strength in the end.”

Indeed he had.

Makau wasn’t able to react to any moves but he didn’t slow down too much either. Take a look at the following chart which show Makau’s and Chemsa’s 5k splits. It actually shows that Makau got the win by simply avoiding a big marathon fade at the end of the race.

Makau Chemsa
5k 15:08 15:08
10k 14:49 14:48
15k 14:47 14:48
20 14:53 14:52
25k 14:55 14:56
30k 14:57 14:56
35k 14:59 (down by 4 secs) 14:56
40k 15:05 (leads by 5 secs) 15:14
40k-Finish 6:35 (wins by 44 secs) 7:14

Makau actually took the lead between 35 and 40k when he ran his slowest 5k split – 15:05 – since the dawdling 15:08 first 5km. Chemsa simply ran out of steam as he only ran 15:14 for this segment and then once his lead was gone, he staggered to the finish. From 40k to the finish, Chemsa ran it in 7:14 which is 5:18 mile pace (16:28 5km pace).

Makau basically just didn’t fade at all and ended up winning by a lot. After a 15:05 5k gave him the lead, he ran 6:35 from 40k to the finish which is 4:49.6 mile pace or basically exactly 15:00 5km pace (14:59.8 pace).

The end of the race was what Makau did throughout. Others got as much as a 50 meter lead by surging but Makau held steady and ended up winning.

Women’s Race – Melkamu’s Debut Is A Successful One

Meselech Melkamu The second fastest woman in 10,000 history

Coming into Frankfurt, the world record holder Makau had stolen all of the headlines. But super-agent Jos Hermens had tried to pump up the prospects of Ethiopian marathon debutante Meselech Melkamu as a contender for the women’s win even though the field included fellow Ethiopians Mamitu Daska (defending champ 2:21:59) and 2:20:30 performer Bezunesh Bekele.

Hermens had good reason to promote the debut of the Melkamu as after all the 2009 world championship silver medallist at 10,000 is the second fastest 10,000 meter runner in women’s history at 29:53.80. The 27-year old lived up to Hermens’ promotion as she pulled away from Kenyans Georgina Rono (third in Boston this year, marathon pb of 2:24:33) and Agnes Barsosio (Dusseldorf marathon winner in her debut in April in 2:25:49) between 35k and 40k to get the win in 2:21:01 to Rono’s new pb of 2:21:39. Barsosio would fade all the way back to firth in 2:24:27 as it was Daska (2:23:52) who ended up third.

The women’s race actually started pretty fast as the half-way split was 70:25.

More: Leaderboard/More Race Splits
*LRC MBoard: Official Frankfurt Marathon 2012 Thread – Will Makau break his WR? Race is at 4am ET Sunday (10/28)
*IAAF Recap of Race – Makau says it’s a WR course.

Top 30 Men’s And Women’s Results Appear Below

Pos. name ac Diff Time
1 Makau, Patrick (KEN) MH +00:00 02:06:08
2 Edae, Deressa Chimsa (ETH) M35 +00:44 02:06:52
3 Kirwa, Gilbert (KEN) MH +01:27 02:07:35
4 Some, Peter Kimeli (KEN) MH +02:21 02:08:29
5 Worku, Bazu (ETH) MH +02:27 02:08:35
6 Matebor, Albert (KEN) M30 +02:45 02:08:53
7 Kipchirchir, Victor (KEN) MH +03:05 02:09:13
8 Legesse, Shume Hailu (ETH) MH +03:53 02:10:01
9 Bane, Tola (ETH) MH +04:50 02:10:58
10 Beyn, Isaias Habtemicael (ERI) MH +05:45 02:11:53
11 Ghebrekal, Ogubit Ghebrengus (ERI) MH +06:06 02:12:14
12 Kigen, Wilfred (KEN) M35 +06:15 02:12:23
13 Berhane, Oqubit (ERI) M30 +07:27 02:13:35
14 Abate, Wondimnew Melkamu (ETH) MH +07:47 02:13:55
15 Bahle, Debesay Tsige (ERI) MH +07:49 02:13:57
16 Kah, Sören (GER) M30 +07:49 02:13:57
17 Brzezinski, Blazej (POL) MH +07:53 02:14:01
18 Hawkins, Derek (GBR) MH +07:56 02:14:04
19 Gemeda, Feyera (ETH) MH +08:05 02:14:13
20 Wanjiru, Peter Kariuki (KEN) M30 +08:20 02:14:28
21 Hamid, Mohammednur (ERI) M35 +09:43 02:15:51
22 Them, Henrik (DEN) M30 +09:58 02:16:06
23 Pellecchia, Liberato (ITA) M30 +10:16 02:16:24
24 Arusei, Isaac (KEN) M35 +10:41 02:16:49
25 Saloj, Jeremias (GUA) +10:48 02:16:56
26 Weiß Latzko, Markus (GER) MH +11:58 02:18:06
27 Aspinall, Michael (GBR) MH +14:48 02:20:56
28 Kemal, Birhanu Dare (ETH) MH +15:01 02:21:09
29 Nikolajev, Ilja (EST) M30 +15:06 02:21:14
30 König, Christian (GER) MH +15:17 02:21:25

Women

Pos. name ac Diff Time

 

1 Melkamu, Meselech (ETH) WH +00:00 02:21:01
2 Rono, Georgina (KEN) W30 +00:38 02:21:39

 

3 Daska, Mamitu (ETH) WH +02:51 02:23:52
4 Bekele, Bezunesh (ETH) WH +02:57 02:23:58
5 Barsosio, Agnes Jeruto (KEN) WH +03:26 02:24:27
6 Ahmed, Zemzem (ETH) WH +06:11 02:27:12
7 Lewandowska, Iwona (POL) WH +07:31 02:28:32
8 Hahner, Lisa (GER) WH +10:27 02:31:28
9 Vernyhor, Tetyana (UKR) WH +12:47 02:33:48
10 Catherine, Bertone (ITA) W40 +13:53 02:34:54
11 Pohl, Veronica (GER) WH +13:58 02:34:59
12 Morceli, Patricia (SUI) W35 +14:30 02:35:31
13 Pinna, Claudia (ITA) W35 +16:11 02:37:12
14 Stockhecke, Mona (GER) WH +17:17 02:38:18
15 Dr. FORTIN, ALEKSANDRA (SLO) W40 +27:34 02:48:35
16 Kuter, Hayley (NZL) W30 +27:41 02:48:42
17 Hjelmsø, Lene (DEN) W30 +28:26 02:49:27
18 Tramoy, Sylvie (AUT) W40 +29:48 02:50:49
19 Krinke, Nicole (GER) W30 +29:53 02:50:54
20 Ytterstad, Nina Wavik (NOR) W50 +30:03 02:51:04
21 Von Opel, Sonja (GER) W35 +30:59 02:52:00
22 Stephan, Kerstin (GER) W35 +32:07 02:53:08
23 Rauschenberg, Eve (GER) W35 +32:44 02:53:45
24 Kainlauri, Minna (FIN) W35 +33:09 02:54:10
25 Maycock, Fiona (GBR) W45 +33:16 02:54:17
26 Tönne, Grete (EST) WH +33:38 02:54:39
27 Røssel, Susanne Elling (DEN) W40 +33:42 02:54:43
28 Bähler, Carmen (SUI) W35 +35:03 02:56:04
29 James, Leigh (GBR) WH +35:14 02:56:15
30 Sporleder, Manuela (GER) W40 +35:44 02:56:45
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