Haile Gebrselassie, Pre-Favourite for the ING New York City Marathon
The ING New York City Marathon is going to have a strong and extremely interesting field in both men’s and women races, however, for entirely different reasons.
Talking about the men’s race first, Haile Gebrselassie would surely remain the centre of attention. The 37-years old Ethiopian is not only the current record holder for a marvellous time depiction of two hours, three minutes and fifty nine seconds; he is
also a fierce competitor who has been rarely beaten at long distance races. Primarily for his consistent performance, he has to be the favourite for the event.
However, in context of his performance, there are certain doubts as well, out of which most important one is about his age. Older distance athletes usually have a tendency of unravelling, which he has already depicted in an earlier visit to New York City
where he dropped out of the New York City Half Marathon – a race he had won back in 2007. Moreover, during most of the titles he had so far achieved, he had been assisted by groups of pace setters, but New York does not provide the pace-setters. Lastly, the
tracks he had been running on so far were quite flat and easy, however, unlike Berlin, London, Dubai, the course at New York is a monster combination of sudden turns and twists, bridges, varied running surfaces and hills in the race.
On the contrary, a positive point about Gebrselassie’s form is that this year he has run in Dubai where he depicted an impressive time of two hours, six minutes and nine seconds. Despite of the hard weather conditions over there he did not lose his endurance.
Moreover, recently he has depicted a time of fifty nine minutes and fifty three seconds at the Half Marathon in Britain which shows that the guy has not lost his speed either.
Among the potential athletes who can beat him, the most likely candidates are comprises of five Kenyan and Moroccan runners; all of them have depicted a clock time of under two hours and six minutes.
On women’s side, in the absence of Paula Radcliff, the New York field would be almost wide open. However, there would definitely be a few runners who would dominate the race and would vow to make something out of it. Among the potential competitors for the
women’s title, the defending champion and winner of 2009 race, Derartu Tulu would be among the most prominent athletes. Just like Gebrselassie, the girl is 38 years old. Coming back to the race after the absence of two years, Tulu last year clocked two hours,
twenty eight minutes and fifty two seconds.
Two other worth watching runners would be Teyba Erkesso, 28, and 23-years old Buzunesh Deba hail from Ethiopia. Erkesso so far has run two races at Houston and Boston with a personal best of two hours, twenty three minutes and fifty three seconds. She would
most probably be among the leaders right from the beginning of the race.
Buzunesh Deba, on the other hand, though had ended seventh in last year’s competition, however the girl has significantly improved her time this year and has been winning almost everything from New York Road Runners road mile in 4:42.36 to depicting a two
hours, twenty seven minutes and twenty four seconds at Minneapolis marathon.
From traditional Kenyan side, is Edna Kiplagat, the 31-years old runner with a personal best of two hours, twenty five minutes and thirty eight seconds, while winning the 2010 Los Angeles Marathon. Salina Kosgei, the 33-years old with a personal best of
two hours, twenty three minutes and twenty two seconds, would be among the favourites for the race.
Moreover, we have Inga Abitova, the 28-years old Russian athlete who named the Yokohama Marathon title back in 2009, while depicting a PB of two hours, twenty seven minutes and eighteen seconds. The girl had even improved her time to a marvellous two hours,
twenty two minutes and nineteen seconds for finishing at second place in London.
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