Keitany completes Keynan double in London
MARY KEITANY produced the second-fastest time by a woman to win the London Marathon, completing a Kenyan double after Daniel Wanjiru took the men’s title.
The 35-year-old mother-oftwo was briefly on course to beat Paula Radcliffe’s overall world record but had to settle for the quickest mark in a women-only race of 2:17:01 with Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba 55 seconds behind.
“We planned to run 2:18 so it was a great day,” said Keitany who took the London spoils for a third time.
“My body felt fit enough and I have trained well and I tried to push. I’m very happy with the finish time.”
In the men’s race, Wanjiru, 21, looked set for a comfortable win after pulling clear after halfway but was reigned in over the closing stages by double Olympic gold medallist Kenesisa Bekele.
But he had enough left to hold off the Ethiopian veteran to win in 2:05:48.
“In the beginning the race was very fast, inside world record pace,” Wanjiru said. “I’d prepared for any pace. We helped each other.
“We were talking about the pace we wanted to maintain but from there, the race got tougher and tougher.”
With the race also serving as the British trials for August’s world championships in London, Deesside’s Robbie Simpson delivered a timely personal best of 2:15:01 in 15th. The mountain running inter- national, 25, was overtaken by Welsh debutant Josh Griffith late on but is set to join fellow Scot Callum Hawkins when the British team is announced later this week.
Alyson Dixon was the first home female finisher in 14th with Charlotte Purdue and Tracy Barlow just behind, with all three inside the world standard. Susan Partridge, in what could be her last major race, was the leading Scot in 21st in 2.37.51.
Elsewhere, Derek Rae slashed his previous best in the IPC world marathon championships with the 31-year-old from Fife running 2:33:24 to claim bronze in the T45/46 race. And after dropping out at Rio 2016 due to the heat, he has set his sights on a second Paralympic shot.
“Hopefully, I’ll have Tokyo,” he said. “London is the first step obviously. I know how I can run. But I’d love to get to Tokyo and that’s what we’re working towards.”
Scottish prospect Erin Wallace was victorious in the Under-17 mini-marathon.