LONDON, ENGLAND, April 21 — At a time when Kenya is looking to fill the void left by Kelvin Kiptum’s tragic passing, 27-year-old Alexander Mutiso looks more than ready after prevailing over a resurgent Kenenisa Bekele and a stellar field to win the TCS London Marathon in 2:04:01.
“I’m happy for winning today’s major marathon, which is my first major marathon,” Mutiso declared. “I loved the course, it was all very good.”
Oh, so close to being great for Bekele who hit the front at 28K and broke the race open, dropping everyone, save Mutiso. “Very close,” an exasperated Bekele lamented. “It was great, but I would’ve been so happy if I had won the race.”
After running away from a field full of athletes with Olympic aspirations, certainly Mutiso, and most likely Bekele, will advance to Paris.
While a bit short on Kenyan talent, London served as the de facto Ethiopian Trials with 7 top-shelf athletes taking part led by Bekele (2:01:41 PR), and including Tamirat Tola (2:03:39), Dawit Wolde (2:03:48), Kinde Atanaw (2:03:51), Leul Gebrselassie (2:04:02), Seifu Tura (2:04:29) and Milkesa Mengesha (2:05:29).
A trio of pacers insured that the race got off to a brisk start, ushering a pack of a dozen racers through the downhill opening 10K in 29:04 — 2:02:39 pace. Tola, coming off his course record in NYC, ran amid the pacers ensuring a fast clip. Mutiso never strayed far from the front, while Bekele brought up the rear.
The pace slipped a bit heading into a freshening northwest wind with the second 10K covered in 29:17, splitting 58:21 at 20K and 61:29 at halfway. Riding a tailwind, Tola led the pacer through a 14:25 split for the next 5K segment, and the 9-man lead pack remained intact crossing 25K in 1:12:46 (2:02:49 pace).
Turning back into the wind at 27K the race began to unravel and Gebrselassie was the first to fall from the lead group. A kilometer later the last pacer gave out and Bekele stepped to the fore and powered through the wind. Tola and Mengesha scrambled to stay with the legendary veteran; Mutiso ran with Wolde and Atanaw 15m back, while Tura and Kenyan Daniel Mateiko could not keep the pace.
The lead trio passed 30K in 1:27:20 (2:02:50 pace) with Mutiso 3 seconds back, though not for long as he and Wolde closed the gap with a 2:51 split for the 31st K. Bekele kept rolling,…
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