New York City Marathon: Geoffrey Mutai, Firehiwot Dado win ING race
| New York
Geoffrey Mutai shattered the course record in the New York City Marathon on Sunday, no surprise after he ran the fastest marathon ever earlier this year.
Firehiwot Dado wasn't a favorite coming into the women's race and victory seemed impossible with even a few miles left. But the Ethiopian made a stunning comeback for her first major marathon title. Mutai finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 6 seconds, crushing the previous mark of 2:07:43 set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia a decade earlier.
The 30-year-old Mutai has established himself as the favorite at next summer's Olympics after two landmark performances this year.
In April, he ran the fastest 26.2 miles in history: 2:03:02 in Boston. It didn't count as a world record because the course is considered too straight and too downhill.
The second- and third-place finishers Sunday also broke the old course record. Fellow Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai (no relation), the London Marathon champ, was 1:22 back. Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia was third.
Dado trailed London Marathon champ Mary Keitany by nearly 2½ minutes at the 15-mile mark but passed her with about a mile left. The 27-year-old Dado won in 2:23:15 – almost a minute better than her previous personal best.
Fellow Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba, who lives in the Bronx, was second for her first podium finish at a major marathon, four seconds back. It was the second-closest women's finish in the race's history.
"I didn't really think we would catch her," Dado said through a translator in a post-race interview. "When we caught up to her, I was very surprised."
Keitany was third, 23 seconds back. The Kenyan was well under course-record pace for much of the race but faded badly over the final miles.
A record 47,107 runners started the race through the five boroughs.
The Associated Press also reports:
Amanda McGrory of the United States set a course record in the women's wheelchair race and Masazumi Soejima of Japan won the men's race at the New York City Marathon.
The 25-year-old McGrory of Champaign, Illinois, finished the 26.2-mile course through the five boroughs of New York in 1 hour, 50 minutes, 24 seconds.
McGrory, a four-time Paralympic medalist, also won the Paris and London Marathons one week apart this year. She was followed by Shelly Woods of Britain (1:52:52) and Tatyana McFadden of the United States (1:52:52).
The 41-year-old Soejima finished in 1:31:41, followed by Kurt Fearnley of Australia (1:33:56) and Kota Hokinoue of Japan (1:34:22).
The previous women's course record was set by Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland in 1:52:38 in 2007.
