HAMBURG: Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won yesterday’s Hamburg Marathon as the 15,000 runners in the northern German city paid tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon bomb blasts.
The 28-year-old Kipchoge set a new course record of 2hrs 05.30mins with Ethiopia’s Limenih Getachew second 2min 5sec back, while Kenya’s Lawrence Kimaiyo was third 4min 57sec adrift.
“I am very happy, because I certainly wanted to break the record,” Kipchoge, who won a 5000m silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, told broadcaster NDR having shaved 28 seconds off the previous record.
But thoughts of Boston were not far away and there was a minute’s silence before the Hamburg race for the three people killed and 180 injured in Monday’s attacks.
The Hamburg runners warmed up to the Boston Marathon’s signature tune “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond while many ran with green and yellow wristbands bearing the inscription “Run for Boston”. Lithuania’s Diana Lobacevske won the women’s race in 2hrs 29.17mins finishing 1min 33sec ahead of Switzerland’s Maja Neuenschwander while Kenya’s Priscilla Lorchima was third 2min 6sec behind.
Meanwhile, Mike Rodgers notched the fastest 100m in the world this year at the Mount SAC Relays yesterday, while America’s top two sprinters -- Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin -- took to the track in Florida.
Rodgers, the US national champion in 2009, won the Mount SAC 100m in 10.04sec -- in an unfavorable wind of 0.4m/sec -- ahead of compatriot Ryan Bailey.
Bailey, a member of the US silver medal-winning 4x100m relay team at the London Olympics, clocked 10.18sec. Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare posted the best women’s 200m time of 2013 of 22.31 (wind +1.3m/sec) at the meeting held on the Mount San Antonio College campus east of Los Angeles. Agencies
