John Ekiru Kelai of Kenya pulled away from the group of leaders in the second half of the race and was never tested again, winning the men’s marathon yesterday at the Commonwealth Games.
Kelai was running in a group with four others near the 30km mark when he accidentally clipped Reinhold Iita of Namibia. After turning to apologize, the Kenyan broke away from the rest and won in 2 hours, 14 minutes, 35 seconds.
“I feel on top of the world,” Kelai said. “This is for my country, the people, coaches and officials. When you can win at this level, you know you have reached your peak.”
Michael Shelly of Australia, who was not in the leading group but ran a fast second half, clawed his way up to second place for the silver in 2:15:28. Amos Tirop Matui of Kenya took bronze in 2:15:58.
“I just tried to keep the same pace and I was just lucky enough to have a bit more energy than the Kenyan and come away with the silver medal,” Shelly said.
Irene Jerotich Kosgei later became the first Kenyan to win the women’s marathon at the games, taking gold in 2:34:32.
Kenyan teammate Irene Kemunto Mogake earned silver in 2:34:43 and Lisa Weightman of Australia took bronze in 2:35:25.
Kosgei tripped and fell to the ground at a water stop early in the race and briefly dropped out of the lead pack. However, after recovering her composure, she slowly picked up her pace and caught the leaders, eventually pulling away for good with Mogake shortly after the two hour-mark.
With 2km to go, Kosgei made her final break, leaving Mogake behind.
Weightman appeared to struggle throughout the race, running with the lead pack early but falling back several times and catching up again.
On the final lap of the 10km loop, the Australian appeared to be totally out of it, but like Shelly in the men’s race, she rebounded and put herself in contention for a medal.
“It was alright for the first bit,” Weightman said. “The first half was quite good but that last lap was a bit of a killer. My legs have just gone, so I’m glad to be finished.”
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