The Kenyan athlete Sharon Lokedi (2:23:23) and her compatriot Evans Chebet (2:08:41) set their pace this Sunday at the New York Marathon and winners of their corresponding categories were proclaimed, in one of the most famous races in the world and that this year once again welcomed more than 50,000 runners.
Lokedi, 28 years old and a rookie in the New York race, crossed the finish line ahead of the Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (2h23:30), the Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase (2h23:39) or the Kenyan Edna Kiplagat (2h24:16). ) who started as favorites among other veterans. Until kilometer 30, a small group of runners kept up the pace of the marathon until fellow Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Viola Cheptoo and Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase broke the race in a breakaway attempt.
Lokedi, who ran the final stages alongside Salpeter, managed to break away from his partner in the last two kilometers and reach the finish line alone. After winning, Lokedi showed his joy and gratitude for the encouragement received during the 42-kilometre journey and also praised the good weather, when she expected much colder, with a temperature that reached 23 degrees, an unusual mark at this time of year.
CHEBET WINS THE MEN’S TEST
Do Nascimento, 24 years old, escaped from the beginning of the race and passed half of the test with an advantage of more than two minutes over his closest pursuers, a small group of eight other athletes including Chebet and his compatriot Albert Korir, in addition to the Ethiopian Shura Kitata or the American Galen Rupp, among others. But at kilometer 25, Chebet, 33, who started as one of his favourites, began to pick up his pace in pursuit of Do Nacimento, and broke the chasing pack.
The Brazilian athlete, making his debut in New York, he collapsed after leading the race for more than an hour and forty minutes. Seven minutes earlier he had stopped with clear signs of exhaustion and dizziness. He took a few steps forward feigning, but he recomposed himself and continued on his way. However, shortly after his body said enough is enough and after falling to the ground he was attended to by the race staff while Chebet passed him and ended up reaching the finish line alone, followed by Ethiopian Shura Kitata (2h08:54) and the Dutchman Abdi Nageeye (2h20:31).
RECORD IN THE WHEELCHAIR CATEGORY
In the wheelchair category, Swiss Marcel Hug stopped the clock in 1:25:26, beating the circuit record held by Australian Kurt Fearnley, who in 2006 I had traveled it in 1h29:22. For her part, the American Susana Scaroni won her category with 1h42: 43, also beating the circuit record that had been set in 2015 by the American Tatyana McFadden.
This year, in addition, the organization of the marathon included a award for the category of non-binary athletes, in which 62 people registered. The New York Marathon, one of the most famous in the world, is part of the ‘six majors’, the six best marathons in the world, along with Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo and Berlin.
Born in 1970, the number of participants has been growing year after year until reaching the 50,000 runners who came from all over the world to run the 42 kilometers of this race that spans the five boroughs of New York: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan.
After the break forced by the pandemic, last year it was held at half speed, with only 30,000 participants due to security measures to prevent outbreaks of covid-19, but this year has returned to vibrate as in the old days, with thousands of people cheering on the runners along the course, which in many places greeted the athletes with golden carpets of fallen leaves.
And to entertain this audience, music groups were installed at various points of the race to brighten up the daywhich started at 8:00 in the morning with the start of the professional wheelchair runners and lasted throughout the afternoon with a multicolored race of thousands of fans.