New York City Marathon

Note by KC: This Sunday morning, 11 November is an action-packed day. There are five running events that will be taking place simutaneously:

1. Powerman Malaysia (run-cycle-run) at Lumut
2. Genting Trailblazer at Awana Genting Highlands
3. IOI Community Run, Kuala Lumpur
4. Johor-Singapore Second Link International Marathon @ Johor
5. Pacesetters 30km Practice Run @ Bukit Aman car park

The hot events will be the Lumut Powerman and Genting Trailblazer. Both events are staged only once a year. Unfortunately, out of the 52 Sundays in a year, they clash on the same morning! I understand that there are 700 participants for Lumut Powerman, surpassing all previous participation record. We should expect about 700 gorgeous road racing bicycles park at the transitional area on race day.

The runners are spoilt for choices. They will have to decide which event to participate. For Lumut Powerman, Tony P3, NgaeKH, SiokBee and Eric will be participating. For Genting Trailblazer, kWeng, HonYou, Jason Lee, and a few others will be at the starting line. Chan Wing Kai will be taking photographs for Genting Trailblazer.

Here is wishing all runners a good race, enjoy the trip and have lots of fun.
.

Steven and kWeng at Genting Trailblazer 2006

New York City Marathon

Note by KC: This is amazing. After giving birth to her first daughter in January this year, Paula Radcliffe is back and won the New York City Marathon on Sunday 4 November. This is really “ang mor” gene. As for Chinese women, few months after giving birth mean having complete rest and getting back into shape slowly.

The article below is extracted from Reuters.

Radcliffe, Lel win at New York City Marathon
(Adds details, quotes)

The queens of marathon: Paula Radcliffe and Jelena Prokopcuka. They look very "yow yeng" (stylo) with the sunglasses. We should emulate them to wear sunglasses in our marathons.

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Paula Radcliffe made a triumphant return to marathon racing and Martin Lel reprised his thrilling London victory to win at Sunday's (4 November 2007) New York City Marathon.

Britain's world record holder Radcliffe, running her first marathon in two years after taking a maternity break and recuperating from injury, beat Gete Wami after a race-long duel with a time of two hours, 23 minutes, nine seconds.

"I love this. I really enjoyed being back, full stop, and racing marathons," said Radcliffe, who gave birth to her first child, daughter Isla, in January.

The top three women at the awards ceremony: Jelena Prokopcuka, Paula Radcliffe, Gete Wami.

Radcliffe and Wami, rivals for 15 years on the track, in cross-country and on the roads, waged a two-woman race from the second mile on as they left the other elite runners behind.

Wami ran behind Radcliffe, nudging past for less than 10 seconds in the final stages before the Briton surged head in the final few hundred metres in Central Park.

There was some consolation for Ethiopian Wami, whose runner-up finish clinched her a $500,000 prize for winning the women's World Marathon Majors title based on points accumulated in top marathons over the last two years.
In contrast to Radcliffe, Wami was running her second marathon in 35 days following her win in Berlin in order to stay ahead of twice-defending New York champion Jelena Prokopcuka in the World Marathon Majors standings.

Paula is holding her baby instead of the trophy

"Running a marathon in 35 days and coming in second, I feel was quite an achievement for me," Wami, who finished 23 seconds behind Radcliffe, said through an interpreter.

"When Paula made the move, I found it difficult to catch up to her. I was feeling some stomach ache."

Prokopcuka, trying to become the first woman to win three in a row in New York since nine-times winner Grete Waitz in 1986, finished third in 2:26:13.
The Latvian needed to finish ahead of Wami and in at least third place to overtake the Ethiopian in the standings.

Goumri, Lel, and Ramaala paused for a moment to enjoy their winning day

In the men's race, Lel of Kenya pulled away from Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri in the last few hundred metres heading into Central Park for victory in 2:09:04.
Lel, the 2003 New York winner who outsprinted Goumri to win by three seconds in London earlier this year, was 12 ahead of the Moroccan on Sunday.

"There are many ways of killing a rat," Lel said about his tactics. "I can say that (Hendrick) Ramaala and Goumri really gave me a hard time."

Goumri was shoulder to shoulder with the Kenyan as they headed for the Central Park finish but could not match his final kick. Ramaala of South Africa, the 2004 champion, finished third in 2:11:25.

Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya, who won the Boston Marathon twice in addition to the 2006 Chicago race during this two-year period, had already wrapped up the first men's World Marathon Majors crown to claim the $500,000 jackpot.


Paula Dominates!
Paula Radcliffe of England led wire-to-wire and Martin Lel of Kenya kicked ahead in the final mile to win. This is the second ING New York City Marathon victory for both winners.

Top Women 20071. Paula Radcliffe (GBR) 2:23:092. Gete Wami (ETH) 2:23:323. Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) 2:26:13

Top Men 2007 1. Martin Lel (KEN) 2:09:042. Abderrahim Goumri (MAR) 2:09:163. Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) 2:11:25

Posted by KC