FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
Guye Adola of Ethiopia and Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya have both run faster
than the course records set in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon last
year, so despite the reduction in prize money (of which more later), the
organisers of Friday's 20th running of the Gulf race firmly expect the
traditional blanket fast times to continue in what they refer to as the
only IAAF Gold Label race in the region.
No one could argue that Eliud Kipchoge is currently the best marathon
marathon runner in the world, possibly of all time; but the Olympic
champion and world record holder was pushed to the limit in the Berlin
Marathon 15 months ago, when Adola led the Kenyan until 40k, and in his
first marathon, no less. The Ethiopian was rewarded with the fastest debut
in history, 2.03.46.
As so frequently happens in elite sport, an injury hampered his progress
last year, and when sickness contributed to a lowly placing in London 2018,
he only finished the race he said, "because I owed it to the organisers.
Now I feel back close to my best," he added before his coach intervened,
with the veiled promise, "We would not have come if he was not ready".
With rare exceptions, runners are notoriously reticent when it comes to
predicting a successful race, and with all the things that can go wrong in
the 42.195k of a marathon, rightly so; but it was not so much what she said
as the manner of her responses which suggests that Chepngetich might
triumph on Friday. No, she said, she hadn"t seen the course and was not
overly bothered in doing so, but knew it was flat; the corollary to which
is that she set her best of 2.18.35 in winning (for the second time in
succession) in Istanbul two months ago. "And that was hilly at the end,"
she said knowingly. "But I train in the Ngong Hills (outside Nairobi), so
that didn"t bother me too much"
Neither, it seems does the prospect of racing another elite marathon so
soon. "I think 50 days is plenty of time to recover," she said; and having
won the half-marathons of Istanbul, Milan and Paris within two months just
under two years ago, who could argue with her?
Nevertheless, the traditional deep fields in Dubai suggest that both she
and Adola will have their work cut out to add another victory to their
records. Among leading rivals, Lemi Berhanu in the men's race, and Worknesh
Degefa in the women's, have both won here in the recent past, Berhanu in
2015, and Degefa in 2016. And as for those blanket finishes, the record
speaks for itself.
There have only been three marathons in history where four men ran faster
than 2.05, and six women bettered 2.22, both in the same race; and they
have all come in Dubai. And in last year's event, seven men broke 2.05, and
four women broke 2.20. So, even though a world record may have eluded them,
despite the past presence of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, the
overall race record reeks excellence.
Which brings us to the reasons behind the reduction in prize pot, over the
contentious issue of impending rule changes for the coveted IAAF race
labels. "For the time being," said founding Race Director, Peter Connerton,
"we are going to continue our policy of paying very good prize money
($100,000 for both winners), but not appearance money, as other top races
do. Because we believe it's the performance on the day that counts.
"The Dubai prize money is reduced for 2019 as a result of a decision by the
IAAF to exclude the Dubai Marathon from the opportunity of becoming a
Platinum label in the new athletics event ranking system. The Dubai
Marathon, with the support of the Dubai Government has since 2008
contributed over US$11 million is prize money, tax free, to the Marathon
event, attracting to its shores some of the biggest names in the sport
including Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele.
"The hierarchy of the sport has decided for the marathon that to be a
Platinum label you must have 15,000 finishers. By default, this excludes
Dubai from that category. After contributing so much to the sport since
2008, we feel let down by the sport, after the initiative of His Royal
Highness back in 2007 to promote Dubai and the Marathon."
Selected elite runners with personal best
Men
Guye Adola ETH 2:03:46
Asefa Mengstu ETH 2:04:06
Sisay Lemma ETH 2:04:08
Lemi Berhanu ETH 2:04:33
Kelkile Gezahegn ETH 2:05:06
Emmanuel Saina KEN 2:05:21
Seboka Dibaba ETH 2:06:17
Tadesse Abraham SUI 2:06:40
Adugna Takele ETH 2:08:31
Shifera Tamru ETH 2:08:50
Yenew Alamirew ETH 2:08:56
Birhanu Teshome ETH 2:09:03
Getaneh Molla ETH Debut
Women
Ruth Chepngetich KEN 2:18:35
Worknesh Degefa ETH 2:19:53
Sharon Cherop KEN 2:22:28
Sintayehu Lewetegn ETH 2:22:45
Rahma Tusa ETH 2:23:46
Birke Debele ETH 2:25:28
Muluhabt Tsega ETH 2:25:48
Waganesh Mekasha ETH 2:25:57
(Friday's event will be live-streamed online with no geoblocking rights or
restrictions, at www.dubaimarathon.org. The elite marathon, commentated
by world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe and Pat Butcher, begins at
0600 Gulf time, 0200gmt)
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