FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
'It was all of us against the virus,' says Kitata
of London Marathon victory
It is said that many elements go into the mix to make a champion. That's
certainly true of Shura Kitata who this morning credited his remarkable
victory in the men's elite race at the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon on
Sunday to a rich cocktail of experience, advice and inspiration.
Plus, the simple fact that he remembered to eat breakfast.
A lifetime of running, expert advice from training partner Kenenisa Bekele,
the influence and example of world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge, and
thoughts of his coach stranded back home in Ethiopia after a positive
Covid-19 test – they all played their part in his thrilling win on The Mall
at The 40th Race yesterday.
But what about that breakfast?
Kitata was a worthy runner-up to Kipchoge back in 2018 when the Kenyan
sealed the third of his four London wins, but he could only place fourth
last year when he lost touch with the Olympic champion and two of his
compatriots in the closing stages.
This year there was little chance of that as Kitata took the race by the
scruff of the neck with three of the 19.6 circuits around St James's Park
to go, and triumphed in a lung-busting, three-way sprint for the Finish
Line ahead of Vincent Kipchumba and Sisay Lemma.
So what had he done differently in 2020? Eaten the breakfast of champions,
apparently.
"Last year I had very little breakfast and couldn't speed up at the end,"
the smiling 24-year-old farmer's son said today. "This year I had porridge,
banana, bread…
"I learned a lot from last year and it gave me a chance in the race this
time."
It was a chance he took with aplomb, defeating one of the greatest fields
of marathon talent ever assembled, including Kipchoge himself whose bid to
win a fifth title foundered in London's October rain.
Indeed, the race had long been billed as a clash of the titans between
Kipchoge and Bekele, the two quickest men in history. But history's rarely
written in advance and when Bekele pulled out last week with a calf injury
that much-anticipated head-to-head was no longer on the cards.
Bekele still had an influence on the outcome, however, according to Kitata,
who nurtured his talent as a youngster running five to six kilometres from
the family farm to school and back.
Back then, Bekele, 14 years his senior, was already setting the world
alight as a track and cross-country champion. Now they are marathon
training partners and it was Bekele's pre-race advice that Kitata believes
gave him the edge in the final kilometres.
"Kenenisa had a small injury when we were training together," he explained.
"He told me: 'If I don't take part, I will tell you how to win'.
"He said: 'Don't push too much at the beginning like you have in other
races, try to wait until the final part. Don't run in front until after
35km, then see who's with you.'
"What he advised I did it, I did it. I felt it in my legs at the end and I
won.
"I want to say thank you again and again to him and to my coach. I hope
they both get healthy so we can succeed together again in the future."
Thoughts of coach Haji Adela also played their part in spurring Kitata on
to victory. Unknown to his athlete, Adela had registered a positive Covid
result when the pair took tests before leaving for London, a fact Kitata
only discovered after winning the race.
"He told me he couldn't come because of family reasons," said Kitata.
"Nobody told me he was affected by coronavirus until after the race. I was
shocked. He lost his sense of smell, I think, but otherwise is fine.
"This competition was not only with the athletes but was also all of us
against the virus. We beat the coronavirus [to hold the race] and I won the
race. So I had two victories."
Three in a way, for Kitata will now always be known as the man who brought
the great Kipchoge's eleven-race marathon winning streak to an end. A year
ago, Kipchoge made sporting history in Vienna by breaking the previously
unthinkable two-hour barrier for 26.2 miles. Twelve months on he could only
place eighth in London, plagued by a troubled hip and a blocked ear.
For Kitata, though, as for so many athletes and fans alike, Kipchoge will
always be the marathon king.
"He is the greatest," said Kitata of the Olympic champion. "What he did in
his life was more than science; he ran two hours and science says you can't
do that. He changed our sport. He is our hero and our champion.
"Yesterday, I won but in my heart he is still the champion. Tomorrow he can
win again. He is still the king even if we beat him. I think the weather
affected him too much yesterday, but he can win in London again."
Kipchoge's title defence may have wilted but still Kenya enjoyed the
success of one returning champion as Brigid Kosgei confirmed her place at
the very pinnacle of women's marathon running by defending her title a year
after smashing Paula Radcliffe's long-standing world record in Chicago.
Her winning time of 2:18:58 was some four minutes off that world-beating
mark from 12 months ago, and two outside the women-only world record of
2:17:01 that had been the pre-race target.
But for the 26-year-old front-running queen yesterday's rain-drenched race
was all about the victory.
"I was happy just to be in the same position as last year," she said. "The
weather was very difficult.
"It was cold and there was wind in parts of the course, and rain. So it was
a very hard race. I promise to do better in the future."
The weather also played a major part in the surprise victories of
wheelchair champions Brent Lakatos and Nikita den Boer, who both took
advantage of the levelling conditions to beat favourites David Weir and
Manuela Schär.
For Lakatos, a Canadian based in Loughborough in the English Midlands,
coping with British wind and rain is hardly a new experience.
"It was just typical British weather, really," said Lakatos. "And I only
had a two-hour drive to the race, so that was great.
"I've been training well all summer but in these conditions you can never
tell, anyone can puncture in the rain.
"The course was to my advantage too," added the former world track champion
whose only previous marathon win came on Berlin's similar looped course in
2018.
"It was a sprinter's course really, flat with lots of changes of pace
thrown in. There wasn't one long gruelling sprint to the finish, but lots
of short, sharp sprints and that worked for me."
It was a similar tale for Den Boer, whose unpredicted victory over the
previously all-beating Swiss star made her the first-ever Dutch champion in
a London Marathon event.
"There's been so much reaction back home on Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram," she said. "Everyone is really happy and crazy about it because
no one thought I could do it.
"It's great for wheelchair racers in the Netherlands to get some more
attention now."
The greatest thing of all, however – all four champions agreed – was that
the postponed and much-altered event happened at all in the midst of such a
worldwide pandemic.
It was Kosgei who captured the feeling best.
"Thanks to the race organisers and to London for making this race happen,"
she said. "It means we are still alive.
"Everyone in the world was looking to see how this would go. Yesterday
everyone was a winner.
"Let's hope next year we will be running together again and the pandemic
will be over."
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