Savaged by the Doha heat, Wijayaratne aims at a triple in Nepal
Sri Lanka’s only representation at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Championships, Hiruni Wijayaratne, could not finish the Women’s Marathon worked off at mid-night on Friday in Doha, Qatar. She was one of the 28 runners who fell by the wayside, among a total of 68 runners, as the scorching conditions took their toll, in a sport that rarely sees dropouts at this level.
Wijayaratne was severely cramping and sweating due to the intense heat just five killometers into the race in Doha and ended with a disappointing finish, competing only 20 minutes in the race amidst a large gathering of Sri Lankan supporters on either side of the marathon course.
“It was the toughest race I have ever competed in,” commented Hiruni speaking from Doha following a disappointing day. “The conditions for the marathon were very tough. I did not feel like it was a race but more of a battle to survive”.
The 28-year-old long distance runner, who holds around 10 Sri Lanka track and field records, is the solitary Lankan to feature in the 17th biennial competition, which is being held from September 27 to October 6 in the Middle Eastern nation.
Hiruni, the national record holder for women’s marathon has been prearaing well for months to be fit and strong. She ran three personal bests in three distances and won two national championships.
“Today was supposed to be my day but the world had other plans for me," a rather dejected Wijayaratne went on to say.
Due to the immense heat and bad weather conditions, the organisers have scheduled a mid-night marathon, the first such marathon in the IAAF championships history.
"I don’t know if I am more sad or mad at the moment. A marathon should not be contested in 36 degrees and 80 plus percentage of humidity. When I went to the medical tent my core temp was almost 40 degrees. That’s insane," she added.
After seven-laps, the eventual winner was Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya and she too had to battle the odd conditions to brace the tape first among the handful of finishers.
"The race was tough. I used water. I forced myself to drink it and also used the sponge to help make me cooler," said the gold medal winner.
Bahrain took the silver medal through Rose Chelimo, who also commented on the intense heat.
"It was still very hot and at one point it came into my mind to stop. I had to drink a lot of water and some of the other drinks because of the weather which was too hot."
Bronze medalist Helalia Johannes of Namibia also went onto express her views: "The race was not very easy because of the weather. During the race I drank a lot because I was afraid of being dehydrated. I made sure I don’t miss any water points."
Sri Lankans, who live in Dubai and Middle East, have travelled to witness the much-anticipated event for Sri Lanka, in which Wijayaratne was the cynosure of all eyes.
"“I am very thankful for the support from Sri Lankans in Doha when I was running. A big crowd, may be more than 200 people were cheering for me. I wanted to stop so many times but kept going because of the support I had from the supporters,” she added.
Despite Friday's failure, Wijayaratne is headstrong and will target a triple-gold-medal feat in the 5000metre, 10000metre and Women's Marathon at the forthcoming South Asian Games (SAG) to be held from December 1 to 10 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
“It’s over now. My focus now is to win gold medal in the SAG marathon this December. Then to qualify for Tokyo Olympics.” an undeterred Wijayaratne said.