After Boston, Chebet also wins the New York marathon, Nageeye a good third

After the Boston Marathon, Kenyan Evans Chebet also won the New York Marathon. His winning time was 2:08:41. Behind Ethiopian Shura Kitata, Abdi Nageeye finished third in the most prestigious city marathon in the world.

Kenya also won the women’s race. Sharon Lokedi made her marathon debut and had never gone beyond a few places of honor in the shortest distances. In New York she beat established names like Lonah Chemtai Salpeter and Gotytom Gebreslase.

Lokedi was involved in an exciting battle with Salpeter and only got distance in the final kilometres. He won them in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 23 seconds, just ahead of Salpeter. “I have no words for it,” he said later. “I don’t know what to say. I’m grateful.”

Salpeter was seven seconds behind the winner and reigning world champion Gotytom Gebreslase crossed the line in third place, 16 seconds behind Lokedi.

The 51st running of the New York Marathon was wonderful. With one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the history of the event, conditions were not conducive to making it a fast race. With 22 degrees Celsius it was more spring than autumn.

Daniel Do Nascimento didn’t care. The Brazilian (eighth at the Worlds earlier this year) started like a rocket and was more than two minutes ahead of the others at the halfway mark. The first indication that he couldn’t keep up was when he suddenly entered a public toilet after about 30 kilometers and exited half a minute later.

A few kilometers later, the Brazilian stumbled on the course. He bumped into a pole and just lay there. Chebet was the new leader and held off Kitata. The latter climbed hard in the final kilometres, but ended up thirteen seconds behind the winner and finished second in 2.08.54. Chebet also won the Boston Marathon in April.

Nageeye could have been close to the eventual winner for a long time, he dropped to fifth place, but eventually gained some positions. He is the first Dutchman to take the stage in New York. Lornah Kiplagat finished third in the women’s event in 2003.

With third place, Nageeye, who finished fifth in New York last year, put in his best performance ever in a total of six major marathons. The Olympic silver winner ran a time of 2:10:31.

“I’m not happy,” Nageeye said later. “I would have preferred to finish first or second. But Chebet was too big. I felt a lot of pressure, but I knew that if I did my job I would be on the podium.”

“I’m proud that I showed courage,” Nageeye continued. “Especially after a disappointing World Cup. I was worried about the Brazilian who started so strong. I wanted to close the gap and that required energy.”

Nageeye won the Rotterdam Marathon this spring with a Dutch record of 2:04:56. He started this summer as a candidate for the medal in the marathon at the World Championships in Eugene, but fell short of high expectations. Nageeye went down in the final kilometre.