were inside record pace at 25km. At 30km, just after the last pacemaker Isaac Macharia dropped out of the race, the lead pack of four runners was split into two - Shami and Asmeron in front and Osaki and Rios just behind, while Tomoyuki Sato was still keeping close. Asmeron tried to shake off Shami, but the gap always stayed between 5-10m. Sato was only 6-7m behind Osaki and Osaki later admitted “ I was scared”. But Sato was unable to close the gap, which started to increase after 32km. At 33km Shami pulled alongside Asmeron, and they ran together for the next 3km. Shami’s surge won him a lead of 20m within a kilometre, and by 40km he was 23 seconds ahead of Asmeron. The competition behind, for the last place on the Japanese Olympic team, was still being closely fought. At 36km Onishi passed Sato to move into fifth. Osaki was slowing down, but needed to finish under 2:08:40 for Olympic consideration. At 37km Osaki realized that he had to run the final 5km in 15:36, and he soon started to pull away from Rios. “At 40Km I decided to go after the time,” he said. In doing so, with a final 400m lap of 72 seconds, he just failed to catch Asmeron. Behind him Onishi passed Rios at 39km but 3-6 MARCH 2008: 100KM DEL SAHARA, TUNISIA was unable to close on Osaki. The Beijing Olympic team was announced on 10 March. “I will wait for the good news,” anticipated Osaki. MEN (ONLY): 1 Mubarak SHAMI QAT 2:08:23 2 Yared ASMERON ERI 2:08:34 3 Satoshi OSAKI JPN 2:08:36 4 Yuzo ONISHI JPN 2:08:54 5 Tomoya SHIMIZU JPN 2:09:23 6 Jose RIOS ESP 2:09:38 7 Tomoyuki SATO JPN 2:09:59 8 Kazuki IKENAGA JPN 2:10:44 9 Masakazu FUJIWARA JPN 2:12:07 10 Toshiya KATAYAMA JPN 2:12:30 2 MARCH 2008: LALA MARATHON, MEXICO Both Procopio Franco and Patricia Retiz recorded impressive come-from-behind victories at the 20th Anniversary race in the city of Torreón writes Alan Brookes. The winner of the first stage was the event specialist Jorge Balle, while Luisa Zecchino established an early lead over Paola Tagliavini and the American Susan Nowell. A spectacular fokloric display rounded off the first day’s proceedings. On the second day last year’s female winner, Sharon Kovar, had to pull out. She had not been well in recent months but still came to the race with a group of 27 runners and also attempted to compete. Conditions were much cooler than on the first day and light cloud and a little wind gave some relief to the runners. The course was also easier. The path was mostly flat with hard packed sand with few areas of deep sand to plough through. The stage was won by the Tunisians Adbelwahed Rouissi and Kelid Hezhi in 1:17:22, half a minute ahead of the Swiss Helmuth Steinacher in third place with the German Jorge Balle coming in just a few seconds behind him. The Night event, included for the unique experience of running under the Saharan night sky, comprised an 8km circuit near to Camp Laaraj. Runners were sent off in groups of four at 30 second intervals, and in the reverse of their order in the overall standings. The stage was won by the Tunisian Kelid Hezhi ahead of Helmuth Steinacher. Third, but only a second further behind, was Jorg Balle. Helmuth Steinacher beat Jorge Balle by a little over a minute to take the marathon stage, but the surprise of the day was the performance by the Canadian Jamieson Amstrong. He came in third, 15 minutes behind the leading pair, to move up the general standings from eighth to fifth. Luisa Zecchino continued to dominate the women’s competition. She more than doubled her lead to put herself 40 minutes ahead of Susan Nowell, who overtook Paola Togliavini on this stage. After a night in the desert with the temperature dropping down to 0°C the runners departed on the final stage at 09:30 with a strong cutting wind. The first part of the course was flat, but was followed by a series of 20m high dunes before the final run in towards the oasis of Ksar Ghilane, the traditional finish of the 100km del Sahara. Jorge Balle retained his title in the 10th edition of the race, concluding with a stage victory alongside Helmuth Steinacher. The brave Swiss, in his first experience of this kind of competition, ceded just over a minute to the experienced Balle over the entire four-day event. Luisa Zecchino further increased her overall lead on the final stage ahead of Susan Nowell. Torreón is an industrial city of 1 million, at 1000m altitude, spread out across the high desert of northern Mexico and bounded by the Cerro de las Noas Mountains. It is home to the Lala milk company – one of the country’s largest dairy processors and distributors – and the marathon is their gift to “La Lagunera”, the city and region surrounding it. As Mexico’s top marathon, it attracts tens of thousands of spectators who line the flat, 42km route in this “Fiesta Lagunera”. More than 40 bands along the course cranked up the carnival atmosphere for the record field of 4,494. Conditions were warm: 18C at the pre-dawn starts (elite at women 06:40, others at 07.00) and Hillary Kimayo and Julius Kipyego took off like they couldn’t wait to get to the post-marathon party at Bosque Venustiano Carranza – a miracle park of green grass and trees, made possible only by irrigation. They blitzed the first kilometre in 2:50, and were 14:53 at 5km. They followed up with 5km splits of 15:12 and 15:17, before the wheels started to come off. The veteran Procopio Franco, himself known as a frequently-injudicious front-runner, ran a wonderfully patient race as he worked with Guanajuato’s Carlos Cordero to close the gap. By 30km he had the Kenyan pair in his sights, but Kimayo dropped Kipyego in a vain but valiant effort to stay ahead of the charging Franco. Franco floated by Kipyego, and nailed Kimayo at 36km. Kimayo hung on for second, with the surprised Cordero coming through for third, as the cheers of “México, México” rose up from the grandstand, and the relentless desert sun beat down. This was the 34-year old Franco’s first Lala victory, after two seconds and a fourth place in previous editions, when he unwisely led the early charge to the front. The women’s race was almost a carbon copy drama, played out by Mexicans Dulce Maria Rodríguez and Patricia Retiz. Paced by her Kenyan training partner, Genoveva Jelegat, Rodríguez broke away early from a lead pack of six. It was not until 35km that Retiz reeled in the fading Rodríguez. This was a second major victory for Retiz who had bested Madai Perez, Mexico’s top women’s marathoner, at the Guadalajara Half Marathon a week earlier. With more than 4,000 volunteers, great sponsors and tremendous crowds, Maratón Lala provides a fine example of how well Mexican marathons are doing nowadays. Lala is their showcase, providing quality and a special “fiesta” experience. LALA MEN: 1 Jorge BALLE GER 8:12:43 1:33:06 1:17:56 26:51 3:15:41 1:39:09 2 Helmuth STEINACHER SUI 8:13:46 1:35:34 1:17:53 26:50 3:14:20 1:39:09 3 Hezhi KELID TUN 8:47:13 1:37:48 1:17:23 26:08 3:33:00 1:52:54 4 Ivan ZUFFERLI ITA 9:06:14 1:43:36 1:21:37 28:14 3:39:53 1:52:54 5 Jamieson ARMSTRONG CAN 9:06:31 1:49:43 1:27:23 30:17 3:30:23 1:48:43 6 Abdelwahed ROUISSI TUN 9:12:09 1:34:40 1:17:22 27:26 3:59:47 1:52:54 7 Kevin MUSCAT MLT 9:18:03 1:49:34 1:24:33 30:16 3:36:58 1:56:42 8 Jamel SAGHRAOUI TUN 9:26:37 1:44:52 1:20:35 27:55 4:00:21 1:52:54 9 Giulio SIMONELLI ITA 9:31:00 1:48:34 1:30:37 33:05 3:45:50 1:52:54 10 Davide CASSANI ITA 9:38:06 2:00:47 1:31:33 33:16 3:43:42 1:48:48 WOMEN: 1 Luisa ZECCHINO ITA 10:15:51 2:02:08 1:33:47 33:32 3:59:25 2:06:59 2 Susan NOWEL USA 11:07:22 2:11:41 1:40:14 36:19 4:21:59 2:17:09 3 Luigina ROSATI ITA 11:32:33 2:17:09 1:47:55 40:02 4:29:27 2:18:00 4 Claudia GERLING GER 11:39:58 2:18:50 1:50:42 35:35 4:32:10 2:22:41 5 Paola TOGLIAVINI ITA 11:46:18 2:08:59 1:42:08 35:55 4:28:14 2:51:02 6 Louise SIMMS CAN 11:48:56 2:19:45 1:45:32 38:24 4:35:52 2:29:23 7 Jennifer GOURLEY CAN 12:14:51 2:25:28 1:46:14 36:27 5:11:34 2:15:08 8 Catherine POULAIN BEL 12:20:05 2:37:20 1:59:18 38:56 4:32:30 2:32:01 9 Cosetta GROTTI SUI 12:24:16 2:19:51 1:49:49 39:39 4:48:31 2:46:26 10 Laura FOGLI ITA 12:25:56 2:16:42 1:52:07 38:23 4:47:43 2:51:01 56 <strong>Distance</strong> <strong>Running</strong> April – June 2008
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