American
Men Are Licking Their Wounds After Marathon Disappointment
By
Richard Finn
It was too hot. It was too slow. It was too tough.
It
was, just a bad day collectively for the American men's marathon
team that had come to the World Track and Field Championships
with guarded hopes of contending for team, and even, individual
honors.
Instead, the American team limped home to lick their individual
wounds from yet another cruel remainder on how far they still
have to go before really challenging the rest of the world and
how fickled the marathon 26.2-mile distance really is.
Khalid Khannouchi -- The Moroccan-born world record holder (2:05:42)
had keyed his entire running year around making his first appearance
for his new country here at the World Championships.
Just
days before the marathon Khannouchi had told reporters that he
would "like to make a statement." Unfortunately the
only statement Khannouchi was able to make was to explain to reporters
after the race how a combination of a slow opening pace, the heat
and bloody blisters on his left foot forced him to step off the
course, take off his sneakers and sit down around the 16-mile
mark.
"My
legs just got too heavy because of the slow pace and because of
that I got the blisters on my toes," Khannouchi said of the
1:06 halfway mark that was set by a large leading pack that featured
London and New York City Marathon reigning champion Abdelkader
El Mouaziz and Boston champion Bong-Ju Lee.
"I was patient and tried to hold on but it because time when
I knew I wasn't going to make it," said Khannouchi. "To
win a race like that you have to a tough, tough man and I wasn't."
While
there had been plenty of doubts on his fitness level after he
dropped out of the Utica Boilermaker 15k early last month because
of back problems and then took eight days off to take treatment,
Khannouchi said he felt great on the starting line.
"I
knew I was in shape to run 2:07 or better,'' said Khannouchi.
"This is the marathon, something you can not predict. It
just wasn't my day today."
While Khannouchi talked about the race calmly and matter-of-factly
the disappointment still was very evident in the 29-year-old's
words.
"This was a worse disappointment than not being able to run
the Olympic Trials (last year)," Khannouchi said of not being
able to race in Pittsburgh because of leg injuries. "This
time I made it to this meet and I still couldn't do well."
Josh
Cox -- After a schedule featuring training weeks of more than
180 miles, the 25-year-old Californian had gone to the starting
line for his World Championship debut with high hopes. But the
83-degree heat and strong early evening sun in the northern latitudes
spelled a tough time for him right from the opening steps.
"It
was very tough out there, I never got comfortable," said
Cox. "The heat really took its toll. From the get-go it was
a battle. I didn't come to start a marathon I came to finish the
marathon. Every part of me wanted to stop."
Cox however, kept plugging along moving up from 66th place at
10k to finally finish as the top American in 35th place, in 2:26:52.
"It is pretty disappointing to have put in so much into the
event but you have to take the good times with the bad times,"
said Cox, who set his marathon PR of 2:13:55 last year at Chicago.
David
Morris -- The former American record holder was slowed by stomach
cramps around the 10k mark according to a USATF official and dropped
out of the race at the 32k (approximately 20 mile) mark.
Eddy
Hellebuyck -- The old man and a late addition to the team when
others refused the invitation showed that he still has a lot of
grit and fight in his 40-year-old body by finishing a very respectable
38th in 2:28:01. But
the fact that he was the second American finisher told him all
that was needed to know about the day's troubles for his teammates.
"It's pretty sad for me, a 40-year-old, to be the second
American finisher," said Hellebuyck.
The fifth member of the team Mike Dudley finished in 48th place
in 2:30:45.
The American woes were, however, mostly ignored by the Commonwealth
Stadium full house that was treated to a thrilling duel down the
final few steps between Olympic champion Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia
and Kenya rival Simon Biwott.
After
separating and leaving bronze medallist Stefan Baldini of Italy
and fourth place finisher Tesfaye Tola also of Ethiopia behind,
the pair entered the stadium to a standing ovation and the backdrop
of thousands of flashing lightbulbs, shoulder to shoulder for
one lap around the track to the finish line.
While it looked like it was anybody's race at that point, the
23-year-old Abera knew otherwise.
When
I reached the stadium I was definite I would win the race because
of my sprinting ability," said Abera.
His surging kick on the far turn and his closing sprint to hold
off one last charge from Biwott proved him right by a few feet
and once scant second with a winning time of 2:12:42. Biwott accepted
the silver and his defeat graciously.
"When I came close to the stadium, I thought I was going
for the gold medal." said Biwott, this year's Berlin Marathon
champion. "I tried to pull away but he was sticking to my
steps. I knew anything could happen."
And the American team can attest to that.
