The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Sir Mo Farah, right, ran a British record two hours six minutes and 21 seconds to finish third behind winner Eliud Kipchoge and Tola Shura Kitata in a gruelling Virgin Money London Marathon yesterday.
MARATHON: Sir Mo struggles with pace but hails London atmosphere after Kipchoge win
Sir Mo Farah had to keep his cool and his bottle as he broke the British record by finishing third in a gruelling Virgin Money London Marathon yesterday.
The 35-year-old struggled with the pace, the heat and mix-ups over water bottles, but he still beat Steve Jones’ 33-year-old mark with a time of two hours six minutes and 21 seconds.
Farah, the multiple Olympic and world gold medallist who turned his back on the track last year to concentrate on road racing, briefly threatened a shock victory in his first serious attempt around the streets of the capital.
But having appeared on the shoulders of Eliud Kipchoge and Tola Shura Kitata around the 16-mile mark, Farah quickly dropped off the pace.
Kenyan Kipchoge, who won the race in 2015 and 2016, eventually broke 21-yearold Ethiopian Kitata with three miles to go to make it a hat-trick of wins.
An exhausted Farah, who finished just over two minutes behind Kipchoge, admitted: “The pace was fast, I was surprised.
“I just had to go with it and see what happened, and if you’re gonna die you’re gonna die.
“Eliud makes it look so easy. I was knackered at 30 kilometres and he just stepped up another gear.
“But to finish third with a personal best, a British record, on the podium, I can’t do any better than that. The crowd really got behind me, it was an amazing atmosphere. I really enjoyed it.”
It was the hottest London Marathon on record with the temperature reaching 23 degrees Celsius – although it was estimated to be even hotter on the tarmac.
So Farah’s irritation at not being able to find the right water bottle at two drinks stations early in the race was understandable. At one point he was even seen remonstrating with the motorcyclists travelling alongside the runners.
“The drink station was confusing,” he added.
“The staff were helpful at the end but at the beginning they were trying to take a picture rather than giving me the drink. I was saying to the people on motorbikes to tell the staff to be a bit helpful. I wasn’t wasting energy, I just needed a drink. I had to get it right.”
Welshman Jones, who won the London Marathon in 1985, set his British record time of 2:07.13 in Chicago the same year.
Meantime the imperious 33-year old Kipchoge – a gold medal 5,000m winner at the 2003 World Championships and 2016 Olympic marathon champion – had 32 seconds to spare on the Mall ahead of Kitata.
Women’s pioneer Kathrine Switzer, who became the first woman to run the Boston marathon in 1967 at a time when women were banned from competing, started the women’s elite race at the age of 71 before taking to the start line herself.
Paula Radcliffe’s world record survived as Vivian Cheruiyot timed her run to perfection to take the title
Cheruiyot, 34, took advantage of failed attempts by last year’s winner Mary Keitany and runner-up Tirunesh Dibaba to break Radcliffe’s 15-year-old mark.
Once again the conditions told as first Dibaba, of Ethiopia, and then Cheruiyot’s fellow Kenyan Keitany fell away allowing the 2016 Olympic 5,000 metres gold medallist to claim victory.
Former Dundee Hawkhill Harrier Lily Partridge, now of Aldershot FD, excelled to finish eighth. She was the leading UK female, smashing her personal best in a time of 2:21.10 and qualifying for this summer’s European championships.
Great Britain’s David Weir won the men’s wheelchair race for an unprecedented eighth time.
In a carbon-copy of last year’s sprint finish the 38-year-old pipped Switzerland’s Marcel Hug into second place.
Paralympian Derek Rae (Fife AC) won the T45/46 race in 2:36.13, with the Kirkcaldy athlete just over three minutes down on last year’s time of 2:33.24.