GOLD COAST, Australia, 7 July 2003 — Dickson Marwa led a Tanzanian one-two in the Gold Coast Marathon here yesterday in ideal conditions.
Marwa, 20, sprinted to the front in the final third of the race along the tourist strip to finish two minutes 12:53 seconds ahead of 19-year-old countryman Patrick Nyangelo in a time of 2 hours 18 minutes 32 seconds.
Marwa had finished third in the Sydney marathon and 10th overall in Sydney’s City to Surf. Tanzanian coach Suleiman Nyambui Mujaya said even quicker times were possible on the Gold Coast course. “It has potential for a world record because it is so flat without many hills,” he said. Third was Seiji Hamada of Japan in 2:19.07.
New Zealand’s Shireen Crumpton posted a personal best time of 2:40.10 to win the women’s marathon from Australian Sherryn Rhodes (2:41.51) and another New Zealander Marnie Oberer (2:41.52).
Lewis on Track in First
Heptathlon for Three Years
In Tallinn, Olympic champion Denise Lewis was lying second after the opening day of her first heptathlon since winning the Olympic title in Sydney three years ago on Saturday.
The Briton, who is under fire for working with discredited former East German coach Ekkart Arbeit, was headed by European champion Carolina Kluft of Sweden but was encouraged by her performance. She needs to score 6,105 points to reach the qualifying mark for the World Championships.
