Charles Kibiwott took fifth this morning at the Dong-A Marathon in Seoul, South Korea. Tom Ratcliffe was there and filed this report:
A nice, sunny, cool day here. Very little wind at the start, but a bit of a headwind over the final few kilometers. The pacemakers were supposed to start with 15:10, 15:10 and then drop to 15:00 and continue through 30k, but they started with 14:43, 14:56, 15:33, 14:48. I’m not sure why the organizers wanted 15:10 x 2 and then 15:00, but that didn’t matter as the pacemakers seemed to have no clear sense of their orders … just that someone was shouting at them to slow down, thus they ran 15:33 for the 3rd 5K and then to speed up and then ran 14:48!
Regardless, it was quite a good race with Sammy Korir always near the front, pushing the pacemakers along and then taking the lead at 30K and periodically injecting a significant increase in speed. The field was down to 5 at 30K and Charles fell off at just before 35K. Korir got a bit of a gap at 41K, but 2nd place finisher Mbote looked like he was going to take the lead as they entered the Olympic Stadium, but Korir was too strong and ran away over the final 300m.
Sammy Korir 2:07:30
Jason Mbote 2:07:37
Edwin Komen 2:07:45
Francis Kiprop 2:08:30
Charles Kibiwott 2:08:33
