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| CONGRATULATIONS: Kenya's Mary Keitany (centre) is congratulated by fellow athletes Liliya Shobukhova of Russia and Edna Kiplagat, who completed the top three at the Virgin London Marathon |
At Spyns we have been busy in London arranging tours, attractions, hotel suites, and keeping up to date on the latest sporting news. Our tours are going to have clients in Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony, out to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle the next day, being give a VIP private guided tour around London another day, watching the 100m Men’s Freestyle swimming final the following afternoon, eating at Gordon Ramsay’s famous restaurant Maze one evening and being escorted around Buckingham Palace the next. These are some of the activities that we have planned for our London Olympic Tours. If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.
Kenyan Keitany held a comfortable position from early in the race, breaking away from the pack at 25km after running in a pack of nine, including Shobukhova, at the halfway mark.
By mile 18, the new half marathon world record holder was leading her chasers by 27 seconds. She continued to extend her advantage, running fast and well throughout the final few miles.
Keitany only had one full marathon under her belt prior to London – that of New York in 2010, where she took third place in a time of two hours, 29 minutes and one second.
Her considerably faster finishing time of two hours 19 minutes and 17 seconds in the London Marathon makes her only the tenth woman to break 2:20, and the fourth fastest woman in marathon running history.
It was an unbelievable race from Keitany, who kept notching up through the gears and sped to an effortlessly fast finish.
Demure, shy, tiny at 5’3” and clutching a small paper Kenyan flag as if for reassurance, her appearance belies her stunning performance that saw her almost floating down the Mall to cross the finish line in a sensational time.
“I know it was only my second marathon – I am so happy to win,” she said.
“The hard training after New York paid off.
“At mile 16, I was confident it was possible. I was not so surprised at my time because I knew the course here was flat and the weather was good – I was confident I could run a better time than my personal best.
“The quality of the field helped me to run that fast because they were so good.”
Runner-up Shobukhova sounded disappointed with her second place finish, despite setting a new Russian national record of two hours, 20 minutes and 15 seconds
“When Mary first attacked, I believed that I would catch her up,” she said.
“The first time, I thought I would let her go because I can catch her, but Mary’s speed was so fast that it didn’t happen.
“Mary has a great speed for a half marathon so I am not surprised she can run so fast
“For me, it was very ambitious and unreal so in the second half of the race when I didn’t see Mary and I could see Edna next to me, I realised I was fighting for second place.
Third-placed Edna Kiplagat, also a Kenyan, smashed her personal best with a finishing time of two hours, 20 minutes and 46 seconds.
“I tried to run as fast as I could but she was much faster,” she said.
“So I tried to run a bit faster for the last 200 metres, that’s when Liliya came up with the speed too.
“I found I was missing the speed but later on I tried to hang on and see if I could beat my personal best.
“I think it’s the best quality field for women that I have run in and the course was a nice one so I was in the right position to chase for my time.”
Kiplagat plans to head to Daegu later in the year, and draw on her London Marathon experience to improve even more.
However, Shobukhova was less willing to commit to racing at Daegu.
She said: “For the first time I can relax today after running, so I’ll decide tomorrow – not today.
Like Shobukhova, Keitany was also reserved about Daegu. But she was happier to talk about a return to London next year.
“Maybe when I go back to training I will see how it goes and then I will come back in London 2012 and try my best to win the gold at the Olympics.”
She may not be one for words, but she can clearly let her feet do the talking.
Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1.888.825.4720 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. www.spyns.com.
