NEW YORK, 4 November 2003 — Martin Lel left fellow Kenyan and defending champion Rodgers Rop in his wake to win the New York City men’s marathon crown on Sunday as compatriot Margaret Okayo took the women’s race in a course record time.
Lel, the world half-marathon champion, clocked two hours, 10 minutes and 30 seconds and Okayo finished in 2:22:31 to shave one minute 50 seconds off the course best she set when winning two years ago.
Both picked up $100,000 each as winners of the 34th New York races while Okayo looked forward to a $60,000 time bonus.
They were also to be handed the keys to New York City in a ceremony with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg the next day.
“I didn’t aim to break the record, but I felt good and strong all the way through,” Okayo told reporters.
Lel added: “There were so many champions in this race, I was scared when I turned round to see them behind me.
Their victories — in unusually mild temperatures — maintained Kenya’s recent stranglehold on the New York marathon.
It was the second year in succession that the winners of both men’s and women’s races have come from the African nation.
Second-placed Rop and Christopher Cheboiboch also made it a one-two-three for the country in the men’s event while Kenyan former world record holder Catherine Ndereba claimed runner-up spot behind Okayo in the women’s.
Third-placed Lornah Kiplagat was born in Kenya but changed her nationality to the Netherlands this year.
One of the men hoping to halt the Kenyan charge, Spain’s world championship silver medalist Julio Rey was forced to pull out when he turned his ankle badly and crashed to the ground at the four-mile water station.
Lel and Rop were among the lead group of 18 that went through the halfway point in 1:05:38.
Rop upped the pace around 24 km and his burst succeeded in shaking off 10 of his rivals but it was not until the 35-km stage that he and Lel turned it into a head-to-head battle. Three kilometers from the finish in Manhattan’s Central Park, Lel left a tiring Rop to settle for second in 2:11:11 and Cheboiboch third in 2:11:23.
Okayo, Ndereba, Kiplagat and Russian 2000 New York champion Ludmila Petrova were frontrunners in the women’s race almost from the start in Staten Island.
Kiplagat, without a major marathon title, opened up a slender advantage after 27 km, but it was short-lived as Okayo and Ndereba overhauled her through 30 km.
Moments later, Okayo made her move in more decisive fashion.
The 27-year-old pounded unchallenged through the last 8 km, with Ndereba finishing in 2:23:04 and Kiplagat in 2:23:43.
Defending women’s champion Joyce Chepchumba, of Kenya, was sixth.
Bayo Wins Athens
Classic Marathon
Zebedayo Bayo of Tanzania won the 21st running of the Athens Classic Marathon, finishing in two hours, sixteen minutes and 59 seconds on Sunday. Second was Stephen Rugut of Kenya in 2:17:06, fellow Kenyan Elias Chebet finished third in 2:18:22.
The women’s race was won by Nadja Wijenberg of the Netherlands in 2:43:18. Second was Georgia Ampatzidou of Greece in 2:46:47, Kenyan Margaret Karie finished third in 2:48:48.
