RETRACING THE RACE
Kenyan coach called it
Joseph Cheromei was right.
A running agent/coach from Kenya with a number of clients in the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon, Cheromei had their passports in his pocket — more on that later — and enough familiarity with the leading male runners to accurately predict the final results atop of the standings in the 43rd edition of the 42.195-kilometre race through Canada’s capital region.
Shortly after pacesetter Ezrah Sang and a lead pack of four competitors crossed the Alexandra Bridge back into Ottawa following a traverse through central Gatineau, and certainly before their nearly 10-kilometre loop in and around Rockcliffe Park and New Edinburgh, Cheromei proclaimed that 27-year-old Eliud Kiptanui would win the $40,000 top prize.
His prognostication was heard only by journalists from Postmedia and LeDroit newspapers and fellow agent Peter McHugh de Clare of Toronto, but rest assured it was on point.
Cheromei’s assessment was based in part on the form displayed by Kiptanui, Uganda’s Moses Chipsiro, Kenya’s Levy Matebo and Ethiopia’s Seboka Dibaba, but, from his perch on the top row of temporary bench seating in the rear of a pickup truck, Cheromei also expressed concern that runners skipping past water stations would eventually pay a price on the sunny, increasingly warm morning.
It wasn’t all the runners’ fault, Cheromei surmised. He didn’t like the way virtually all water-station volunteers stood water cups atop their palms: too much chance of mishaps and spills.
Given the almost universal manner in which the volunteers offered water to runners, it was speculated that they had been coached to position cups that way. If so, Cheromei responded, he’d have to work on changing that. He wanted each volunteer to hold the rim of each cup between fingers, allowing a runner to grab the base of the cup while not breaking stride.
Cheromei did have kind words for Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend organizers, though, when they helpfully marked off a pothole near the intersection of Holland and Scott, saving runners from what could have been a painful misstep. Back to the race, though. To less experienced spectators, it seemed early in the race that one or more of the elite men might threaten course — and Canadian — soil marathon records of two hours six minutes 54 seconds by another Ethiopian, Yemane Tsegay, on the way to victory in 2014. Through the first half of Sunday’s run, for example, the unofficial leading time was only a tick or two over 63 minutes, hinting at a finish-line arrival in about 2:07:00.
Too fast too soon, though, seemed to be the assessment of Cheromei and McHugh de Clare, whose opinions were soon supported by the number. What began as a leading group of 13, including three hired pacesetters, dwindled to those three plus five others by 26 kilometres.
Then pacesetters Isaac Langat and Edwin Kipyego dropped out at the Alexandra Bridge, and Kenyan David Kiyeng, the eldest of the front-runners at age 34, fell off the pace on Sussex Drive.
It was about this point that Cheromei, who toured Parliament Hill one day before the marathon, expressed delight that the runners would pass by the gates of 24 Sussex Dr., normally the home of Canada’s prime minister, and Rideau Hall, full-time residence of the governor general and current base for the PM and his family. It was, Cheromei said for more than the first time, a beautiful course.
Sang fulfilled his contractual obligation to run through 30 kilometres, but then he, too, slipped away. That left Kiptanui, Kipsiro, Dibaba and Matebo to finish on their own.
By the time the media truck rolled along Birch Avenue — Cheromei spotted John Lepi Lanyasuna, Kenya’s high commissioner to Canada, cheering alongside the roadway — Matebo had lost several metres to the others, but the Kenyan coach said we hadn’t seen the last of him.
Through 34 and 35 kilometres we went, by which point the quick start and the rising temperature combined to take full effect, slowing the expected pace through 2:08 and 2:09 and heading toward 2:10. Dibaba lagged at 37K and Kiptanui surged at 38, apparently leaving Kipsiro as his only real pursuer for the title.
Except, according to Cheromei, Kipsiro probably wouldn’t run as well without the motivation of having another runner alongside. Not only would Dibaba catch Kipsiro, the coach said, but Matebo would, too.
That seemed doubtful, but then it happened just as Cheromei predicted. Dibaba reeled in Kipsiro at the 40-kilometre mark beside the Rideau Canal and, following a right-hand turn onto the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, Matebo did the same right at the finish line.
Kiptanui’s winning time was 2:10:14, Dibaba claimed $20,000 as runner-up 17 seconds later and Matebo took five grand — $10,000 to $5,000 — out of Kipsiro’s pockets by edging him 2:10:48 to 2:10:49. It really was that close.
Then it was time for Cheromei to fish those passports out of his jacket’s breast pocket, and other agents did the same for their own clients. It turned out passport numbers were required to complete documentation for Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport anti-doping tests.
So now you know, just as we all know to listen carefully when Joseph Cheromei sees into the future and tells us what will happen in a marathon.