Chicago Marathon 2010: Tsegaye Kebede vs. Sammy Wanjiru

Sammy Wanjiru

While Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya and Liliya Shobukhova of Russia were repeat winners in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and two runners from Michigan topped the Americans who ran the race, the best news is there were no mishaps like the ones that damaged the image of the 2009 Chicago Marathon.  But the talk was about the battle between Sammy Wanjiru and Tsegaye Kebede.

That event was held in record temperatures for the marathon. It was 89 degrees and 90 percent humidity, leading to a number of runners not finishing or in the case of a 35-year old man with a heart disorder, passing away after collapsing.

This year, the temperature was a much cooler but still warm 68 degrees. Sammy Wanjiru said it was his favorite weather. According to Running Competitor, Wanjiru beat Tsegaye Kebede from Ethiopia, but it wasn't easy. Kebede would take the lead, only to have Sammy come back and catch him. Later, Kebede would observe "He get recovery he come again" in talking about running against Sammy Wanjiru. Wanjiru would post a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes, 24 seconds, 19 seconds faster than Kebede.

Having personally observed Wanjiru at the 2009 Bay To Breakers, Kebede's right.  This blogger has never seen anyone run so fast for such a long stretch of distance, as Wanjiru did over the last mile of the 2009 Bay To Breakers.  When the temperature cooled as the runners approached the ocean, Sammy kicked it into another gear.

Wanjiru, truly an amazing runner, has a technique he says he developed at the Beijing Olympics. It's a series of surges after rest periods along a run. Apparently it worked. Wanjiru set an Olympic record of 2:06:32.