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A Race Like No Other
The 46th Running of the New York City Marathon - The Men's Race
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Abdi Abdirahman and Dathan Ritzenhein
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Olympic Year + Focus on Americans
Much of the athletic world revolves around the Olympics, and in Olympic years it becomes harder to build a deep field of top athletics at the various major marathons. In the elite field for the 2016 New York City Marathon were listed only 6 runners who had ever run faster than 2:10 for the marathon. That compares to the field the year before which contained 6 runners who had previously run faster than 2:07 and the 2014 field that contained 6 runners who had run a marathon faster than 2:05 and 17 who had run faster than 2:10. Instead of focusing on the international field, the New York Road Runners focused on bringing in the best of the USA and where the international field was not the fastest or deepest, the American field assembled was arguably the biggest and deepest since the New York City Marathon had hosted the USA Marathon Championships in 2009.
A Fast Start / Ritzenhein
Despite the field, the men started the race faster than they had in years. Dathan Ritzenhein, the American with the fastest personal best in the field, led from the start and pulled the other runners along to run with him. It is typical that the lead pack is large at the early stages of the race and from the start 18 men were running together at a pace that would average to a 2:09 marathon - frankly, a time that would be too fast for most of the runners... Dathan Ritzenhein had run a 2:07 marathon, so the fact that he was choosing to lead the pack at this pace did make sense for him, even if not for the followers, and through the first ten miles it was Ritzenhein who was clearly in charge of the pace.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Ghirmay Ghebresellasie Leadsa Pack of 3
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Attrition from mile 10
By mile 10, the defending champion and man with the fastest personal best, Stanley Biwott, had dropped out. Biwott was a pre-race favorite, but Biwott had dropped out of the Rio Olympics with hamstring difficulties and those problems resurfaced. By halfway, nine men still remained in the lead pack, ticking off even splits of 4:55 +/- 5 seconds each mile and still on track for a 2:09 finish. Fast....
Following the halfway point (1:04:24 still on the same pace), Lucas Rotich made a test surge, increasing the pace to see the reaction of the others. The pack congealed again, but a few minutes later Rotich made a surge in earnest. Mile 14, despite starting on pace, was clocked at 4:33 and only two men could stick with Rotich: Ghirmay Ghebrselassie, the youngest runner in the field who had some great credentials despite his age, and Lelisa Desisa. Ghebrselassie was the reigning world champion at the marathon, had finished second behind Rotich at his PR Marathon (2:07:17) in the 2015 Hamburg Marathon and was fourth at two marathons earlier in 2016: the London Marathon and the Rio Olympics. Lelisa Desisa, the two-time Boston Marathon champion and holder of a 2:04:45 personal best, was also a tough competitor.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Ghebreslassie Leads
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Three Runners Beyond All; then Two.
By Mile 19, the three men were 2min20sec ahead of the next runners. And the pace had increased such that the finish time, based on their average pace was under 2:07. Into mile 20, Ghebrselassie pushed the pace and ran off alone. It was a combination of the fact that Ghebrselassie was feeling strong and also that the other runners were tiring. Lucas Rotich managed to continue to run strong, only losing five seconds on Ghebrselassie into mile 20, but Desisa's spirit and body was broken. In the mile after Ghebrselassie put in his final push, Desisa had lost 45 seconds on the leader; by the next mile, Desisa was was two minutes back and in the next mile Desisa dropped out.
Top Two
Ghirmay Ghebreslassie slowed a bit in the final two miles, but continued to build distance on Rotich and would win in 2:07:51. Lucas Rotich would finish second, just over a minute back in 2:08:53. With his win, Ghebreslassie would become the youngest winner of the New York City Marathon (20 years old) and would become the first winner from Eritrea.
Despite having a shallow elite field to run with, Ghebreslassie kept the pace strong and finished with the third fastest winning time ever at New York. Rotich's time was also strong for New York, tied for the 22nd fastest time ever run at the New York City Marathon.
More Runners and Americans
Behind the leaders, a number of runners had dropped out: Lelisa Desisa who seemed destined to be one of the top three finishers and Dathan Ritzenhein who seemed to be the candidate for first American were both out of the race. After Rotich and Ghebreselassie broke away from the main pack, much of that pack remained together and there was a pack of five men who were together for much of the race: Abdi Abdirahman (USA), Hiroyuki Yamamoto (JPN), Shadrack Biwott (USA), Moses Kipsiro (UGA) and Tadesse Yae Dabi (an Ethiopian not even listed by event oraganizers as one of the elite athletes). It was interesting to see such a large group working together and after the first two places, here was a race of five men to see who would receive places three through seven and in what order. This group was truly in no-man's land: nearly three minutes behind the eventual second place finisher and more than a minute ahead of the next runner.
Into mile 23, Abdi Abdirahman pushed ahead in the following pack and powered on to be third finisher in 2:11:23 and first American. Shadrack Biwott was running strong as second American and was working with Hiroyuki Yamamoto of Japan. In the last mile Yamamoto pushed away from Biwott to take fourth place in 2:11:49. Biwott easily finished in fifth overall and as second American in 2:12:01. American prize money went five deep and Tyler Pennell (8th overall, 2:15:09), Ben Payne (9th overall, 2:15:46) and Patrick Smyth (10th overall, 2:16:34) rounded out the top five American places.
Summary
In a race without the deepest fields we've seen at New York, the top three men created an exciting race among themselves and the finishing time ended up fast. The smaller field and emphasis on Americans also allowed Abdi Abdirahman, one of our favorit American runners to grab third place and created a race with 5 Americans in the top ten finishers.
Top Finishers
1. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (ERI) 2:07:51 - $100,000 + $25,000
2. Lucas Rotich (KEN) 2:08:53 - $60,000 + $15,000
3. Abdi Abdirahman (USA) 2:11:23 - $40,000 + $25,000
4. Hiroyuki Yamamoto (JPN) 2:11:49 - $25,000
5. Shadrack Biwott (USA) 2:12:01 - $15,000 + $15,000
6. Tadesse Yae Dabi (ETH) 2:13:06 - $10,000
7. Moses Kipsiro (UGA) 2:14:18 - $7,500
8. Tyler Pennel (USA) 2:15:09 - $5,000 + $10,000
9. Ben Payne (USA) 2:15:46 - $2,500 + $5,000
10. Patrick Smyth (USA) 2:16:34 - $2,000 + $3,000
11. Craig Leon (USA) 2:17:14
12. Musa Babo Ido (ETH) 2:17:57
13. Christo Landry (USA) 2:19:14
14. Brendan Martin (USA) 2:19:34
15. Senbeto Geneti Guteta (ETH) 2:20:01
16. Mariano Mastromarino (ARG) 2:20:08
17. Matthew Llano (USA) 2:20:15
18. Werkuneh Seyoum Aboye (ETH) 2:20:54
19. Tim Ritchie (USA) 2:21:09
20. Harbert Okuti (UGA) 2:21:27
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A Race Like No Other
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