The glass is at least half-full for the organizers of the Samsung Milano City Marathon.
Although Kenyan Duncan Kibet vanquished Benson Cherono's 2006 course record by five seconds when he crossed the finish line in the Piazza Castello this morning in 2:07:53, he fell eight seconds short of their stated goal of surpassing Simeretu Alemayehu's Italian all-comers record of 2:07:45 set in Torino in 2001.
The lead pack of six was slightly behind course record schedule when they passed the half-way point in 64:02. Kibet was with his key rivals and compatriots Elias Kemboi Chelimo, Leonard Mucheru, course record-holder Cherono, Elijah Keitany and Moroccan Rachid Kisri. By the 30-K mark, the Kenyans were still together, but Kisri had slid back by four seconds. In the next 5 km, Cherono and Keitany dropped out, leaving Kibet, Chelimo and Mucheru to fight it out for the win.
Kibet, who had been second at the Vienna City Marathon in his debut last April, was clearly the strongest athlete in the final kilometers. He surged ahead of his two rivals, and by the time he hit the finish tape he was ahead by the better part of a minute. Chelimo won the battle for second, setting a personal best of 2:08:39. Mucheru, who had run for a time for Bahrain as Musir Salem Jawher, also set a personal best in third in 2:10:05.
In the women's race Italian Anna Incerti was an upset winner over Kenyan Pamela Chepchumba, the defending champion and course record holder. The two women were together at the half-way mark in 1:14:01, and remained together through 35 km in 2:03:16. Incerti dropped Chepchumba in the final four kilometers of the race, romping to a 52-second victory in 2:27:42. It was the first victory here by an Italian women since Lucilla Andreucci made the top of the podium in the inaugural year of the race in 2000. Ethiopian veteran Merima Deniboba finished third in 2:29:57.
For Incerti, 28, her time was a big personal best, easily surpassing the 2:30:55 mark she achieved when she finished 14th at the Beijing Olympic Marathon last August. She also ran the fastest marathon by an Italian woman since Bruna Genovese clocked 2:27:35 one year ago in Tokyo.
The event recorded 4071 finishers, but just 371 were women. 5875 athletes had entered the race.
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