Mugo pre-favourite Beijing Marathon loses his title to Gena Siraj
As the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning was over, the athletes shifted their focus on the upcoming Beijing Marathon event. Beijing Marathon, which is an IAAF Gold Label event, celebrated its 30th anniversary this year on 24 October
2010. Just like the half marathon event at Nanning, the expectations for winning the Beijing Marathon too were associated with the Kenyan athletes.
According to all contemporary standards Sammy Mugo had been considered as the best and pre-favourite for the event. Mugo was not only the topper of the last year race, but also a few days before Beijing Marathon he had depicted one of his best personal performance
by making it to the finishing line in just two hours, eight minutes and twenty seconds. Although the 24-year-old athlete could not participate into Boston marathon held earlier this year amid the bronchial problems, he looked rather content with his preparations
for the big event.
While talking to the media Mugo depicted a higher level of confidence when he said that though he had developed a chest problem on way to the Boston race and eventually had to drop after 25km, but now he was perfectly alright. He told that he had presumed
with the training schedule and was going well with it. He was feeling rather strong and vowed to improve his overall performance. Upon a question about who could be the possible rival for the athlete, he said that he did not consider any other runner a potential
threat for him.
The blunt and confident statement by Mugo may not be liked by the other athletes and many of the spectators might also feel offended by it, but that was how he was confident about himself. On objective grounds if one would analyze the performance of the
other athletes, then the first name that comes to mind is Nicholas Kamakya who made his debut last year at Rome Marathon with only 20 seconds behind the winner. Moreover, after Nicholas experience at Rome he was looking stronger and more confident about the
Beijing event. Other prominent performers constituted Salim Kipsang from Kenya with the best run of two hours, seven minutes and twenty nine seconds, and Gudisa Shentema from Ethiopia with a best time of two hours, seven minutes and thirty four seconds. Among
these athletes, Kipsang also holds the titles of Paris and Tokyo marathons.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Beijing Marathon was first launched in 1981 as part of the stride of innovation in the host country which was followed by what is known as politically “opening up” situation in the post Mao Era.
The Beijing Marathon got an early popularity when it observed some good records in the mid-eighties depicted by Taisuke Kodmama of Japan and Abebe Mekonnen of Ethopia. The best depicted performance of the time was two hours, seven minutes and thirty five
seconds. Later on the track also observed the fifth fastest finish in the world. The best times depicted at Beijing may feel normal in the present times when marathon has got quite fast, but at that time they played an important role in laying the foundational
image of the event.
Commenting upon the situation, the former champion Mugo claimed that if the weather would remain supportive, the present lot of the runners had the potential to do much better than the past.
Among women’s contestants, Sun Ying Jie from china had been considered favourite; the girl is a world record holder in the track which she laid in 2003 by she crossed the finishing line in mere two hours, nineteen minutes and thirty nine seconds. Other local
leading contenders include Chen Rong and Wang Jia Li. Chen Rong has been the winner of the Beijing marathon race three years ago, however Wang Jia Li has a better finishing time than her. The only problem with Wang is that she is not a consistent runner. While
addressing the press conference, Wang told the reporters that she was aware of the fact that the folks were not familiar with her; however she was putting her best efforts to leave an impact upon them with the results of the race.
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