Posted: October 16, 2005

Athletics: Course Record For Gebrselassie In Amsterdam

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

According to the Dutch news service, NOS Teletekst, Haile Gebrselassie set a course record, personal best, and world leading time today at the ING Amsterdam Marathon, but came up short in his quest to break Paul Tergat's world record for the distance.

The double-Olympic gold medalist was ahead of Tergat's schedule at 20 km and half-way (1:02:00), but could not maintain his pace in the second half. His finish time of 2:06:20 was the fastest recorded in a marathon in the world this year, topping Felix Limo's 2:07:02 run in Chicago last Sunday, and the fastest-ever on Amsterdam's flat and fast course (previous 2:06:23 by Robert Cheboror of Kenya in 2004). Gebrselassie also set a personal best time, breaking the 2:06:35 he ran in London in 2002 in his debut.

When Tergat set his still-standing record of 2:04:55 in Berlin in 2003, he actually ran significantly faster in the second half. He crossed halfway in 1:03:01, but came back in 1:01:54. He also had the benefit of being accompanied by two other athletes almost the entire way. In fact, Sammy Korir ran all the way with Tergat to the finish line, finishing only one second behind him, while Titus Munji, a pacemaker like Korir, only faded in the last few kilometers to finish in 2:06:15, still the fastest-ever third place finish in a marathon.

Gebrselassie won today's race by more than two and one-half minutes, so was likely unaccompanied for nearly all of the second half of the race. Kenyan Daniel Yego, who was third at the Roma marathon last March, finished second in 2:08:59, his second sub-2:09 this year. Kutre Dulecha of Ethiopia won the women's race in 2:30:06.

NOTE: Look for a complete report in tomorrow's RRW --Ed.

Results:
MEN - 
 1. Haile Gebrselassie, ETH, 2:06:20 CR/PB/WL
 2. Daniel Yego, KEN, 2:08:59
 3. Tesfaye Tola, ETH, 2:09:17
 4. Bernard Barmasai, KEN, 2:10:52
 5. George Okworo, KEN, 2:11:49
 6. Benjamin Limo, KEN, 2:12:13
 7. Jamal Baligha, MAR, 2:15:22
 8. Sander Schutgens, NED, 2:17:53

WOMEN - 
 1. Kutre Dulecha, ETH, 2:30:06
 2. Kristijna Loonen, NED, 2:34:08
 3. Sue Harrison, GBR, 2:38:28