- Ethiopia's Sisay Lemma (2:01:48) set a course record of 2:01:48 to move to fourth on the men’s world all-time list.
- His compatriot Dawit Wolde managed 2:03:48 to win bronze as the Eastern African nation oozed class.
Image: FILE
Alexander Mutiso clocked 2:03.11 to bag silver at the Valencia marathon on Sunday in a race dominated by Ethiopians.
Kibiwott Kandie (2:04:48) placed sixth, the other Kenyan to finish in the top 10.
Ethiopia's Sisay Lemma (2:01:48) set a course record of 2:01:48 to move to fourth on the men’s world all-time list.
His compatriot Dawit Wolde managed 2:03:48 to win bronze as the Eastern African nation oozed class.
Kenenisa Bekele (2:04:19), Tanzanian Gabriel Geay (2:04:33), and Chalu Deso (2:05:14) were fourth, fifth and seventh respectively.
The men's race kicked off at a brisk rhythm as the pacemakers went through the opening five kilometers in 14:28.
They maintained that pace through to 10km (28:56), with Lemma always nearest to the pacemakers and other favourites – including Uganda's debutant Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopia's Bekele – in close attendance.
Shortly after reaching the 13th kilometre, the pace of the lead pack picked up and only Lemma, Geay and the Kenyan duo of Kandie and Mutiso managed to maintain it as that quartet clocked 14:08 for that 5km split.
But Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde and Chalu Deso plus Cheptegei re-joined them at the helm and seven men blazed through the half marathon checkpoint together in 1:00:35. By then, the experienced Bekele had decided to set his cadence and travelled alone behind them, clocking 1:00:58 for halfway.
With the clock reading 1:08, a quartet of Lemma, Geay, Deso and Wolde broke away from Kandie, Mutiso and Cheptegei.
A short while later only Lemma travelled at the shoulder of the remaining pacemaker, with Kandie and Wolde a couple of seconds in arrears and the rest of the contenders some way back as that 10km section was covered in 28:38, the quickest of the race to that point. The leaders passed the 30km mark in 1:26:04, 27 seconds faster than the previous best 30km split.
The last pacemaker dropped out at 30.5km and Kandie, who had caught Lemma, ruled the race for a while with Lemma and Wolde chasing him in crocodile file.
The pace dropped slightly without the pacemaker's help and the trio covered the following kilometers in the 2:55/2:57 range, running 14:36 for the 30-35km section.
The key moment came some 1:42 into the race when Lemma made his move to gradually open a sizeable margin on Wolde and Kandie, with the rest of the field far away.
Over the closing stages, only Lemma was able to tick off each kilometer well under 3:00 pace to reach 40km in 1:55:12, almost a full minute ahead of Wolde, while Mutiso ran in third another half a minute adrift but ahead of a faltering Kandie.
Lemma reached the finish line unopposed in 2:01:48, just seven seconds shy of Bekele's national record.
Mutiso overtook Wolde in the closing stages to take second place in a career-best of 2:03:11, with Wolde completing the podium in 2:03:48, also a PB.
Bekele passed Geay and Kandie over the closing kilometers to finish a fine fourth in 2:04:19, improving his own masters' record (M40).
In a race of great depth, a record 13 athletes ran under 2:06 and a series of national records were set, while world 10,000m record-holder Cheptegei had to settle for 37th place in 2:08:59 on his debut over the classic distance.