Pacemaker Kipketer does a little more than the role
MUMBAI: Pacemakers don’t usually finish races. They are contracted by race organisers to run at a pre-set pace before retiring at some pre-designated location. But Kenyan pacemaker Gideon Kipketer, after having set a scorching pace for around 32 kilometres, found enough reserves of power to take him over the final 10 kilometres.
Not only did Gideon break away from the bunch of elite international athletes, he breasted the Mumbai Marathon finish tape in a course record time of 2:08:35 on Sunday. That lopped off almost a full minute off Jackson Kiprop’s previous record of 2 hour 09 minutes and 32 seconds set in 2013 when the Ugandan had also run as a pace setter.
This coming after his sister, Valentine Kipketer’s 2013 record of 2:24:33, Gideon’s amazing finish has given the Kenyan siblings a rather unique honour of holding both the men and women’s record for the course.
In Sunday’s race, however, Valentine fell behind the lead group after a mishap with her shoelace but, egged on by her very own pacer Stijn Fincioen of Belgium, she managed to recover to finish on the podium behind Ethiopia’s Shuko Genemo (2:27:50), who also received guidance from her pacer, and Kenya’s Bornes Kitur (2:32:00), who didn’t appear to have any help.
It was Gideon’s biggest-ever pay-day as he pocketed $41,000 (`27.8 lakh) for his victory and also collected the $15,000 (`10 lakh) bonus for the course record. Like many of his compatriots, Gideon said he intends to invest his earnings in buying a house and a plot of farm land.
Gideon, however, said that the final five kilometres were his biggest challenge. “We lost some time getting over the bridge (sea-link) and there were some difficult narrow zig-zags that we had to make to avoid other runners before we picked up the pace around the 22- to 25km marks,” said Gideon.