Mumbai: Always be yourself and have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and try to duplicate it, this was the mantra of the Tata Mumbai Marathon winner, Cosmos Lagat of Kenya, who broke from the pack of eight runners, at the 35th Km mark to finish the race in 2:09.15 hours, in the 16th Tata Mumbai Marathon, which was held here on Sunday. True to his name Cosmos, this Kenyan shot off like a comet from the bunch of runners in the 35th km mark to never turned back to engrave his name in the list of winners. In the process Kenyan runners have proved they are better when it comes to men, while there was no challenge from any quarters for the Ethiopians in the women’s section as they swept aside all opposition to take the first seven positions. And leading them was Worknesh Alemu who timed 2:25.45 to emerge the champion, which incidentally is the second-best in the 16-year history of the race.
Making an impact in his first visit to Mumbai, Lagat won the race soon after he took off at the 35th km mark, and never looked back to run away with the booty of US $ 4,500.00, (Rs 32,06,475.00), but could not match his countryman Gideon Kipketer’s course record of 2:08:35 set in the year 2016. Incidentally Lagat’s name in the list of the participants was a last minute inclusion. “I wanted to win and I knew I can do it, so the question of anyone behind me did not bother me,” said the champion who was well ahead of Aychew Bantie of Ethiopia who finished behind him by over a minute. Tagat started running marathon as the pace setter, during the London marathon when asked do pace setters make good marathon winners, he was quick to answer, “it all depends on self-confidence of that individual, and if he is confident he will win, and that is what happened to me.”
“Maybe if I come back next year I will have a go at the course record, but this time I have achieved my goal, that is winning the race,” said the 24-year-old, who has the Spain’s Sevilla’s marathon (2016) under his belt. Things were not as rosy as one thought pre race predictions, as the Ethiopians, though they had a big number of names in the first ten finishers, could not find the one name on top of the list. It was blame it on Rio case as the runner up and the second runner-up, Aychew Bantie and Shumet Akalnew both were upset as their main contender Abera Kuma failed to keep up to their expectation. “We always thought that Kuma would take the lead, but that was not to happen. We would have been on top had Kuma been a leader,” was the general opinion of these Ethiopians. The man with the best time going into the race, Kuma, finished seventh in 2:13:10 after he was with the lead bunch of ten runners, including some pacers, on the sea link after 19 kms before the bunch split up.
Ethiopians did have all the reasons to cheer about as the women counterparts swept aside all the oppositions to claim the first seven positions in the women’s section. And leading them podium was Worknesh Alemu who clocked 2:25.45, every close to the course record of 2:24:33 set by Valentine Kipketer (Kenya) in the year 2013. But their body language of the Ethopians said it all, “we are happy with ur performnence, We will come back for the next edition and much better”. The women’s race also became a one-horse course over the last 5 km once Ethiopian Alemu split the field with 12 km left in the race. Finally, she came home all alone well in front of the others, including pre-race favourite, compatriot and defending champion Amane Gobena, in 2:25:45 which was outside the course record. Gobena came in second in 2:26:09 while another Ethiopian woman, Birke Debele, was third in 2:26:39 to mark a clean sweep for the African nation.
Results (elite)
Men marathon: 1. Cosmas Lagat (Kenya) 2:09:15, 2. Aychew Bentie (Ethiopia) 2:10:05, 3. Shumet Akalnew (Ethiopia)
2:10:14
Women: 1. Worknesh Alemu (Ethiopia) 2:25:45, 2. Amane Gobena (Ethiopia) 2:26:09, 3. Birke Debele (Ethiopia) 2:26:39), 8. Sudha Singh (India) 2:34:56.
