Makau Wins Healthy Kidney 10K in NYC Central Park – Front-running effort comes within 11 seconds of Ritzenhein’s 2007 mark

New York, Saturday, May 17—Patrick Makau started the Healthy Kidney 10K with the Central Park record on his mind. U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein’s 28:08 at this event in 2007 had bettered a mark set by Makau’s Kenyan countryman Paul Koech, which had lasted since 1997, by a mere two seconds; nevertheless, at a pre-race media conference, Makau had said that the record “should not be difficult.”

Such confidence was understandable in a man who has won four major half-marathons this year and passed 10K in 27:27 on the way to that distance. Adding to the record’s allure was the $20,000 Zayed Bonus, offered by race sponsor Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, that would come with it. Makau is in the process of building a school for the children of his Kenyan hometown, and such an amount would do wonders.

At 9:00 on a cool, beautiful morning, 6,251 runners flooded off the starting line near Tavern on the Green. Makau ran the slightly uphill first mile in 4:22—a pace that few runners could match if they tried. No one did, and he quickly built a 10-second lead over a large pack of national and international pro athletes. He held on through the second mile (4:24), but then he reached the Harlem Hills. This was Makau’s first visit to the United States, and, unlike many of his competitors, he had no experience on Central Park’s deceptively challenging course.

He reached halfway in 13:54—a 27:48 pace—but he was running alone and working very hard. As Makau gradually slowed, Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil, the winner of the ING New York City Marathon 2006, broke away from the following pack and began to close the gap. At the five-mile mark, which Makau reached in 22:30, Gomes was still gaining and looking strong; an upset briefly seemed possible. Makau’s fatigue must have been extreme, but even in the final stretch, after he had seen the record tick past on the finish-line clock, he didn’t relax his full effort. He crossed the line in 28:19—the fourth-fastest lap of Central Park ever run.

Gomes closed to within 12 seconds and finished in an excellent 28:31. Richard Kiplagat, a Kenyan who lives in New Rochelle, NY, and who won six IC4A titles at Iona College, improved from fifth place last year to a strong third in 29:08, 100 yards ahead of a sprinting pack of four Ethiopians and a Scotsman: Wegayehu Tefera (fourth, 29:20), Worku Beyi (fifth, 29:22), Dagne Alemu (sixth, 22:23), Demesse Tefera, who is Wegayehu’s older brother (seventh, 29:25), and Andrew Lemoncello (eighth, 29:28). Rounding out the top 10 were Linus Maiyo of Kenya (ninth, 29:33) and the first American, Jason Hartmann of Eugene, Oregon (10th, 29:38).

Coincidentally, Hartmann had also been 10th across the same finish line at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon last November. Andrew Carlson, the USA 15K champion, was recovering from a week of illness; Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco, second in the ING New York City Marathon 2007, was recovering from a 2:05:30 at the Flora London Marathon last month; they were not factors in the race, finishing 13th and 14th, respectively.

Josh Moen, of Readlyn, IA, who finished just behind Hartman in 29:41, was pleased with his position but a bit overawed by what he’d seen at the start. “The weather was fine,” he said after a cooldown run. “We had a nice chase pack going, and we ran our first mile in 4:35, but Makau was just gone—we couldn’t see him. We didn’t know where he was.”

When Makau knows where he is, the result may be different. New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg called him “our kind of champion—a guy with all kinds of heart,” and guessed that this race would leave him wanting to try for the record again; meanwhile, his $7,500 winner’s purse would speed the school’s completion.

Makau received another challenge of a sort just after the race. Ritzenhein, the course record-holder, who had been kept from defending his 2007 title here by a lingering foot injury, left him a phone message: “Congratulations on your victory. The course is harder than it looks.”

Source/Courtesy: NYRRC