Hawkins edged out by Ethiopian’s surge in New York
CALLUM HAWKINS confessed he had nothing left to give after being pipped to victory in yesterday’s United Airlines New York Half-Marathon by Olympic marathon silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa.
The 24-year-old looked confident as he spearheaded a breakaway group of three for most of the Big Apple event. However, in what turned into a two-man dash for the line over the closing stages, he was edged out by his Ethiopian rival who won in 60:04 with the Scot just four seconds behind. And he admitted: “I was thinking, why won’t he leave me alone? But, yeah, it was fun running through Manhattan. I mean, such an exciting race, but overall it was just really tough, and I was throwing everything I could just to get rid of Feyisa, but he was just too strong in the end.”
Hawkins – who is set for only four more races in his build-up towards this summer’s world championships marathon in London – missed his own Scottish record by just eight seconds. And, despite several attempts to make a decisive surge clear, coming out of Central Park towards the finishing line, the pain of pushing to the front finally hit home, he revealed.
“I was trying to gear up for a sprint finish because I didn’t have any more to go from that far out,” he said. “We both suffered under Lilesa’s sprint finish. But, unfortunately, he got the better of me coming off the corner. I just didn’t have any kick on me at all.”
American favourite Molly Huddle took the women’s title for the third successive year in 68:19. 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. email: sport@theherald.co.uk. Tel 0141 302 7156 Head of Sport Stewart Weir