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Cheruiyot & Grigoryeva Beat Heat to Win Chicago

Posted October 13th, 2008 at 11:07 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

As the temperature soared, so did the fortunes of Evans Cheruiyot and Lidiya Grigoryeva who both earned their first Bank of America Chicago Marathon titles here today.

Cheruiyot, running in only his second marathon, survived an early and almost violent surge by Kenyan compatriot Emanuel Mutai which broke up the lead pack, leaving only three men together at the halfway mark which was reached in a blistering 1:02:27: Cheruiyot, Mutai and David Kipkorir Mandago. Mutai ultimately paid for is move, falling back and leaving Cheruiyot and Mandago to fight for the win (he would finish fifth).

Both athletes picked up their drink bottles at 35-K together, then Mandago made a gentle move to drop Cheruiyot, but the move didn’t stick.

“Mandago was strong,” said Cheruiyot who was sensing that his rival was tiring. “(But), he was looking side to side.” He added, “I was feeling to push the pace.”

In the 38th kilometer, he dropped Mandago, shook off the hot sun beating down on him, and sailed to the finish line alone in 2:06:25, a three-minute personal best. Mandago held on for second in 2:07:37, and then the finish line went silent for more than four minutes until Kenya’s Timothy Cherigat came third in 2:11:39.

For Grigoryeva, a Russian who won the Boston Marathon in 2007, patience played a big role in her strategy. The women, who ran essentially in an all-women’s race this year as both the elite men and elite women started five minutes ahead of the recreational runners, were running very cautiously at the outset of the race.

Twelve women were still in contention at the halfway mark when it was passed in 1:16:03. Grigoryeva, and her teammate Alvetina Biktimirova, broke free shortly after half-way, and by the 25-K mark the pair had a 19 second lead over third place Bezunesh Bekele of Ethiopia.

Through 30-K (1:46:09), the two Russians remained together joined by a man who had caught up from the recreational race, but Grigoryeva soon took charge, and built up her lead to the better part of two minutes by the 40-K mark. From that point, it was a smooth ride to the finish.

“The hot weather played well for me today,” she said through her agent Andrey Baranov who played the role of translator. “The race started slowly, developed very slowly. I was very confident in my speed.”

Biktimirova cruised home second in 2:29:32 and Kiyoko Shimahara of Japan rounded out the podium in 2:30:19. Olympic champion Constantina Dita was fourth in 2:30:57 and American Desiree Davila was fifth in a personal best 2:31:33.

Both Cheruiyot and Grigoryeva earned $100,000 in prize money, but Cheruiyot earned an extra $40,000 for breaking 2:07:00.

Race director Carey Pinkowski was satisfied with the result, especially in the men’s race.

“The guys were very aggressive and went after it,” he said adding, “That’s what the spirit of this event is about.”