Shobukhova and Wanjiru Emphatically Defend Their Titles
The marathon races around the globe are regarded as great physical challenges however, at bank of America Chicago Marathon, the winners made it to their titles by making smart use of their minds.
Sammy Wanjiru and Lilya Shobukova, the defending champions of IAAF Gold Label Road Race took totally different paths to their emphatic victories. Wanjiru hailing from Kenya had to battle Ethiopian rival Tsegaye Kebede until they both made it to the final
400 meters. However, amid the forceful strides depicting his amazing confidence, Wanjiru made it to the finishing line in just two hours six minutes and twenty four seconds leaving his rival behind with a margin of 19 seconds. Shobukova on the other hand passed
her leader and race runner up Astede Baysa much earlier and crossed the finishing line in two hours twenty minutes and twenty five seconds. Her close rival Baysa ended second after a gap of three minutes.
The marvellous win has brought huge prizes for both of the winners and Wanjiru and Shobukova were both sewed up with the World Marathon Majors (WMM) which has award money of $ 500,000 for each winner. Moreover, they won $115,000 in prize and time bonus money.
The only reason which can hinder Wanjiru from claiming the World Marathon Majors men’s prize is the chance that Kebede might run and win the ING New York City marathon which is to be held on November 7 of this year. Though it is rather an unlikely scenario,
but Kebede has not ruled it out yet, as while talking to the media he said that he would return home, recover and afterwards would decide about attempting the double.
Kebede who happens to be among the most consistent top performers appeared a bit tired at the end of the Chicago race. Having surged away from Wanjiru many times near the closing stages of the race had made him feel upset. However, he tried to make a confident
appearance before the media personnel and determinately said that he was not out from the competition for WMM prize money yet.
For Wanjiru, the winner of the race, the battle had to be fought on two fronts. On one side, he had a rival as good and consistent as Kebede and on the other hand he had been trying to recover from back and knee injuries which had been followed by the stomach
virus which caught him three weeks before the Chicago race. The stomach virus caused Wanjiru to miss three days of training. Though his manager and he himself knew it very well that he was not in the peak form to perform during the race, but he decided to
participate into it though with somewhat less ambitious goals.
While appearing into the race, Wanjiru and his manager hoped for bagging second or third position, however with Kebede consistently dropping him with surges, it looked he would not be able to retain his confidence and would give up soon. However as the runner
did not give up with his fighting spirit, he eventually made it to the finishing line far before Kebede, the pre-favourite for the race.
A few minutes after the start of the race, Kebede got a gap on Wanjiru, taking the gap with a calm mind, when Kebede was running on the middle of the road Wanjiru decided to closely follow him from behind while keeping himself at the side of the road. This
gave Kebede a sense of satisfaction thinking that he had outdid all of his rivals.
However, when it was about 400 meters to go for the finishing line, Wanjiru gathered all of his courage and depicted his best performance. He challenged his rival when he was not physically at his best and made his way to the success which was least expected
to come by. Sharing her views upon the marvellous success of her athlete, Rosa, the manager of Wanjiru said that she had never seen anything like that and it was the greatest surprise she had ever had in her life.
Tags: