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Runners in the ING NYC Marathon at the 13-mile mark run across the Pulaski Bridge from Brooklyn to Queens. Over 45,000 runners competed in the 26.2-mile race on Sunday, during the 41st running of the marathon. (Gary Du/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—A world-record holder was stopped in his tracks by a bum knee, a Chilean miner plodded determinedly along to the finish, and a few participants became running billboards for Peruvian grievances against Yale University in the 41st running of the New York City Marathon on Sunday.
Over 45,000 athletes of all levels participated in the race. Among them was the Ethiopian champion and marathon favorite Haile Gebrselassie.
Gebrselassie holds 27 world records and two Olympic gold medals, in addition to other shining accomplishments. The 37-year-old Ethiopian’s knee gave him grief throughout the running on Sunday, however. Obviously swollen, it began to slow him down around the half-way mark.
“I never think about [planning] to retire. But for the first time, this is the day,” said Gebrselassie after dropping out of the race at the 16th mile, according to the Associated Press. “Let me stop and do other work after this.”
Gebrselassie has the running of a business empire to go back to in Ethiopia. He has a variety of enterprises, including a five-star resort in his homeland. This may be little consolation to the passionate runner, however.
“I love it [running], it is motivation. It is the cheers that I'd miss,” Gebrselassie told the Ethiopian Review in July. “I want to keep running for as long as possible, I want to keep training, I want to get out there and sweat.”
Athletes from all walks of life came to push themselves to high levels of endurance, but some of them also took advantage of the spotlight to get their message out. Several runners donned shirts calling on Yale University to return artifacts to Peru. Possession of artifacts from Incan ruins are in question, with both Yale and the Peruvian government staking their claim.
Men Cross the Finish Line
Rookie marathoner Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia won the men's division with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 14 seconds. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)
While the Ethiopian world-record holder did not make it to the finish line, Chilean miner Edison Peña, who was spurred on by crowds and fellow runners alike, completed the race.
Peña’s training ground was a mile-long underground tunnel in Chile, where he was trapped for 69 days with 32 other miners. Peña, like Gebrselassie, had knee trouble—he had sustained an injury while in the mine and required ice to ease the pain and swelling as he continued on the marathon track. He completed the course in about six hours.
The final stretch was literally an uphill battle, as the runners rounded Columbus Circle and back into Central Park. The distance between the three lead runners grew from barely perceptible to extensive, eventually determining the race.
For a time, Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia was so close to Kenyan runner Emmanuel Mutai that it seemed like either man’s race.
Gebremariam “snapped the rubber band,” as the announcer described it, and pulled ahead around the 24th mile. The 26-year-old Ethiopian repeatedly cast furtive glances back at Mutai until he became confident that he had the lead.
Gebremariam was the rookie star this Sunday, running his first marathon and winning it in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 14 seconds. He was greeted by Ethiopian flags as he approached the finish line at 67th Street near Central Park.
“No matter where in the world, there’s always a huge contingent of Ethiopians,” noted the announcer.
Mutai came in one minute and four seconds behind, with Moses Kipkosgei of Kenya following in third place.
Women Complete the Race
“They have yet to open their strides and untether their hearts,” remarked a commentator as the women paced themselves at around an hour and a half into the race.
The patience of a marathon runner and the strategy of distributing energy and picking the right time to go full-throttle culminates in the last few miles.
Kenya's Edna Kiplagat pulled into first place and stayed there, finishing in 2 hours, 28 minutes, 20 seconds.
American Shalane Flanagan came in 20 seconds later, and Mary Keitany of Kenya came in third at 2 hours, 29 minutes, 1 second. Flanagan and Keitany were both marathon debutants like Gebremariam.
Of the top six race participants among men and women, three were first-time marathon runners and four were Kenyans.
Flanagan won the 2008 Olympic bronze medal in Beijing for the 10,000-meter run. As she finished the marathon, she collapsed on the ground with the American flag draped over her shoulders. She recovered after a moment’s rest and exchanged hugs with her husband and Kiplagat.
