Wanjiru sets record

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

CHICAGO – The star delivered.

Sammy Wanjiru entered the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on a hot streak. The 22-year-old Kenyan won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and finished first at the Flora London Marathon in April.

He didn’t disappoint on Sunday, winning a third-straight marathon and setting a new course record with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 41 seconds on a frigid day where the race-time temperature stayed at a constant 35 degrees. With the finish line steps away, Wanjiru broke stride to point to fans in the crowd but still managed to break the course record by one second and collect a $100,000 bonus.

“When I am running I don’t think about the course record,” said Wanjiru whose time also set a record for a marathon held on U.S. soil.  “I am very happy to be the winner and thankful to be one second under the record.”

As the Marathon entered the heart of Chinatown Wanjiru made his move. Turning the corner at Cermak Road and Wentworth Ave., he left Vincent Kipruto (third) and Charles Munyeki (fourth) behind. Sergio Reyes was the top American in eighth place. When the Marathon hit its 24th mile, Wanjiru was cranking out his mile splits and had opened a 12-second lead.

At Chinatown, Abderrahim Goumri was a blip on the leader’s radar screen. But the 31-year old Moroccan made up a 40-second gap to finish in second place. He ignored the amazingly fast pacesetter’s early splits.

The savvy veteran said Wanjiru might have to reconsider his strategy if he intends to challenge the current world record held by Haile Gebrselassie.

“His tactic is special,” Goumri said. “Before it used to be old guys tired from track that ran marathons. Now, it’s moving into a specialty where guys run marathons.”

The competition for the women’s title was tightly contested and included bumping and pushing between competitors near the water stations. Russian Liliya Shobukhova pulled away in the last mile and held a 100-yard lead at the last water station.

“It’s only my second marathon and I am happy to win,” Shobukhova said through an interpreter. “The weather was cold and I was disappointed with my personal time (2:25:56). I am happy we went out slowly because there is no other way to run in these weather conditions.”

After 10K, St. Charles graduate Tera Moody led the pack of elite women. She finished in ninth place with a time of 2:32:59 and answered questions about a schedule that included two marathons within seven weeks.

“Even the splits shocked me,” Moody said. “I wondered where is everybody? But it was cool to lead the Chicago Marathon for a while. We ran at sea level on a flat course so I figured I would go for a personal record and not worry about what anyone else was doing.”

While the black-block letters on her marathon bib read MOODY, the 1999 St. Charles graduate, who was born in Batavia, heard plenty of ‘let’s go Tara’ cheers.

“I had friends and family here and it was cool to hear people yell out my first name,” Moody said.

Moody was on the 1997 and 1998 St. Charles cross-country teams that won the IHSA Class 2A State Title. She also finished second in 1997 and fourth in 1996. She isn’t sure if she will run a spring marathon after such a busy fall, but preferred the 35-degree temperature to the 88-degree conditions that tortured runners two years ago.

“I didn’t feel that great the last two weeks,” Moody said. “My goal was to lay everything out there. I felt I pushed myself to the maximum, I’ve earned two weeks off now.”