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A Race Like No Other
The 49th Running of the New York City Marathon - The Men's Race [photos to be added soon]
by John Elliott
Fall 2019 Marathon Season - How Could New York compete?
The fall 2019 marathon season started with some incredible performances. A near world record was set at the Berlin Marathon in early September. Two weeks later the fastest marathon of all time was run at an exhibition race in Vienna. The next day the World Record was set in the Women's Marathon. The following weekend, 4 men ran sub-2:05 in the same race in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon With such an impressive start to the Fall Marathoning season we wondered how the New York City Marathon could follow that up.
Return of the Champions
The story line coming into the 2019 New York City Marathon was that the top four finishers from 2018 were returning. The 2018 race was one of the fastest of all time in New York - with the second, third and fourth fastest NYC Marathons ever run. With perfect weather forecast for the 2019 race day and the top four men returning, we were hopeful for something incredible to happen at New York.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Kamworor and Korir in Central Park
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The Race - Weird from the Start!
Immediately from the start of the 2019 New York City Marathon, something weird was happening. Shura Kitata, the 2019 runner-up ran away from the field. Within the first few minutes he had a ten second lead on the field and it was growing. Already specators were wondering whether Kitata was aiming to try for a course record - it was the day to do it and Kitata's 2018 time was less than one minute off the course record.... Through 5K, Kitata's pace was set at course record pace - but by mile 4 he had slowed and rejoined the pack.
Through 10K the men were running at a pace similar to the best performance at New York - the 30:32 10K split was just eight seconds behind the time that Geoffrey Mutai crossed the 10K mark when he set the course record in 2011 (but with a nice negative split). But soon the race lost its defending champion, Lelisa Desisa before mile 8 and thereafter the pace began to slow. Why did Lelisa Desisa drop out so early in the race? We didn't get to speak with Desisa post-race, but with some understanding of the operation of races and elite entries, we can guess (and this is our guess): We know that Desisa was a late entry into the IAAF World Championships Marathon which he ran, and won!, on October 5. Desisa likely started the NYC Marathon race simply to honor his contract with the Marathon but had no plan to complete the race as he had run one just four weeks earlier. Oh well...
What else was weird? As we watched the mile-by-mile leaderboard, we started to see three phantom runners - who were nowhere visible in the lead pack. Three runners with bib numbers in the 400s (sub-elite) were showing with split times matching the lead pack. Who were these runners and why were they invisible? The New York City Marathon starts runners at three different starts which merge at mile 8. Three sub-elite runners, Ethiopians who ran under the auspices of the local team West Side Runners, were running at the same pace as the lead pack - but on a parallel course. Eventually, one of these runners who kept the pace merged into the pack with the elite runners, but his being there was a surprise to all.
A Pack of 12 Run to Mile 17
Running at an average pace that would have the runners finishing in about 2:10 - not terribly fast and just under 2 minutes slower than the prior year to that point - the pack contained 12 men including two Americans: Abdi Abdirahman and Jared Ward.
Mile 17 to 21 - Five Men
In the lead Pack were Geoffrey Kamworor, Albert Korir, Tamirat Tola, bib 443/Girma Bekele Gebre and the early leader Shura Kitata. Following mile 17, this group of five pulled away from the remaining runners and the pace increased from what was an average of 5:00 per mile to somewhat faster.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Kamworor Running Away from Korir
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Geoffrey Kamworor Moves Into Mile 23
From the start of the race to mile 21, the mile splits ranged from 4:43 to 5:08, with only two of the miles sub-4:50 and none under 4:40. But into mile 22, that changed. Geoffrey Kamworor (bib 3), the 3 time Half Marathon World Champion, began to push the pace with only two men running with him: Albert Korir (bib 5) and Girma Bekele Gebre (bib 443). These three built a convincing lead, but into mile 23 only Kamworor could keep his pace and we could see he would run away alone to victory.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Kamworor Wins 2019 NYC Marathon
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The Finish - Still Weird
To the end of the race, Geoffrey Kamworor found an easy win in 2:08:13; not a bad time, but oddly nearly two minutes slower than his third-place finish of the year before. Second place was taken by Albert Korir in 2:08:36. For Korir, this was a good time in what was his first "Majors" Marathon, Korir was best known for his earlier victories at the 2019 Ottawa Marathon (2:08:03) and the 2017 Vienna Marathon (2:08:40). Honestly, we are surprised both that Korir was awarded bib #5 in the first place (bibs are typically assigned by the race in order of expected finish) and that with little experience he managed to take the runner-up spot.
Strangest of all, however was Girma Bekele Gebre taking the third spot. Girma, as mentioned, had not even started with the elite field and his finish time, 2:08:38, was a personal best by more than four minutes. Girma's previous top five finishes were a runner-up spot at the 2019 Pittsburgh Marathon (2:13:46), a fourth place finish at the 2019 Taipei Marathon (2:16:12), a fourth place finish at the 2018 Quad Cities Marathon (2:16:29) and a third place finish at the 2015 Linz Marathon (2:13:02). None of those would suggest that Girma could run 2:08 let alone podium at the New York City Marathon - so we remain confused. Oh, and Girma's 2:18:18 18th place finish at the 2018 New York City Marathon further muddies the waters..
The Americans
As we had mentioned elsewehere, not many American Men came to compete at the 2019 New York City Marathon. Those who were planning to run the Olympic Trials in February had opted for an earlier Fall Marathon and/or were taking the Fall off from Marathoning. Those who were still seeking a Trials Qualifying time had likely opted for the Chicago Marathon with its faster course and lots of American-only prize money...
But, impressing us was Jared Ward. Ward was the surprise third finisher at the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon who then went on to finish sixth at the Olympic Marathon in Rio. Ward was also sixth at the 2018 New York City Marathon. And... apparently that number 6 works for Ward as he finished as top American in sixth place at the 2019 New York City Marathon. But, what does impress us was that Ward's finish at New York was a new personal best of 2:10:45!
Also continuing to impress us is Abdi Abdirahman. At 42-years old, Abdirahman finished as second American and ninth finisher overall in 2:11:34 - the best Masters time ever run at New York.
And rounding out the top-10 finishers and third American was Connor McMillan. With that, we just had to scratch our heads and say: "who???". MciMillan, 23 years old, was running just his second marathon - his first having been run when he was 20 years old, a 2:23:28 finish at the 2016 Chicago Marathon. We should also note that McMillan was third finisher at the TC 10 Mile/USATF 10 Mile Championships in October, so we'll look forward to seeing more performances from this newcomer.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Jared Ward Finishing as Top American
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Top Finishers
1. Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN) 2:08:13 - $100,000 + $15,000
2. Albert Korir (KEN) 2:08:36 - $60,000 + $15,000
3. Girma Bekele Gebre (ETH) 2:08:38 - $40,000 + $60,000
4. Tamirat Tola (ETH) 2:09:20 - $25,000 + $10,000
5. Shura Kitata (ETH) 2:10:39 - $15,000
6. Jared Ward (USA) 2:10:45 - $10,000 + $25,000
7. Stephen Sambu (KEN) 2:11:11 - $7,500
8. Yoshiki Takenouchi (JPN) 2:11:18 - $5,000
9. Abdi Abdirahman (USA) 2:11:34 - $2,500 + $18,000
10. Connor McMillan (USA) 2:12:07 - $2,000 + $10,000
11. Arne Gabius (GER) 2:12:57
12. Daniel Mesfun (ERI) 2:13:09
13. Birhanu Dare Kemal (ETH) 2:13:35
14. Tyler Pennel (USA) 2:14:10 - $5,000
15. John Raneri (USA) 2:14:13 - $3,000
16. Patricio Castillo (MEX) 2:14:16
17. Tadesse Yae Dabi (ETH) 2:14:24
18. Tyler Jermann (USA) 2:15:38
19. Joe Whelan (USA) 2:16:10
20. Louis Serafini (USA) 2:16:34
21. Diriba Degefa Yigezu (ETH) 2:16:38
22. Jack Rayner (AUS) 2:16:58
23. Brett Robinson (AUS) 2:17:50
24. Craig Leon (USA) 2:18:20
25. Mustafa Mohamed (SWE) 2:19:41 - + $2,000
Coverage Homepage
Post Race:
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Pre-Race:
Men:
Men's Preview & Starter List
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Extras:
Pace Calculator/Pace Guide/Viewing |
Videos (Athletes/Archival/More...)
More News:
Press Releases |
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Featured Book/Movie:
Run For Your Life |
A Race Like No Other
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