From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Tue Apr 21 2009 - 15:42:42 EDT
Zersenay Tadese can light up this year's London Marathon
Posted on
Tuesday 21 April 2009 00.05 BST
The Guardian
As 36,000 competitors line up for the start of the Marathon, all eyes
will be on Zersenay Tadese
How do you know it's mid-April? Sunderland are engrossed in a relegation
battle and the weather suddenly warms up as London prepares to welcome
the world to its famous streets. It may be a sign of old age, but the
marathon week seems to come round with ever increasing haste these days,
which is in stark contrast to most of those set to line up on Sunday.
Much as I enjoy the enthralling spectacle of the inspiring masses and
the odd enduring celebrity, it's the sparsely populated front of the
race that still has me absorbed more than any other athletic endeavour.
Like no other event London has excelled in bringing together the world's
best marathoners in one place at one time.
If the organisers of 2012 are even remotely concerned about whether or
not the Olympics will prove a big enough draw for those who only race
rarely but are paid royally, they shouldn't worry. Dave Bedford, the
race director, has made London a No1 destination for those who want to
race.
It may have lost its place in recent times as the race for fast times,
but if it's Olympic and world champions grinding each other into the
tarmac you want to see, then this could be the best year yet. Here comes
that age thing again, but despite all of the wonderful marathons I've
watched in recent years my mind still goes back to the likes of Steve
Jones and Charlie Spedding in the 80s. But, by common consent, the
greatest race of recent times came in 2002.
Haile Gebreselassie made his debut and rekindled his rivalry with Kenyan
Paul Tergat who had recently taken to the marathon. Khalid Khannouchi,
running for the United States, was the world record holder at the time.
The three were locked together along the Embankment, matching each other
stride for stride. At a point where races like this are normally over,
theirs had just began. Surge after surge in the closing stages brought
no advantage until finally, with about one mile to go, the previously
unbreakable Gebreselassie fell to pieces. Khannouchi then broke Tergat
in the closing few hundred yards and broke his own world record as well.
Tergat and Gebreselassie have reduced the world record seven years later
to 2hr 3min 59sec.
Those records were run in Berlin and for Geb in particular he had little
else to worry about but the clock there. I believe that weather
permitting we could see a race on Sunday to emulate that of 2002. Martin
Lel may be looking for a record fourth win, but if he is to achieve it
then I think he'll have to run much quicker than his best of 2:05:15 set
last year. This year has already produced a cosmic burst of super-fast
times from some relative unknowns and 2:06 no longer looks impressive.
Half-marathons are now regularly run in less than 60 minutes and London
has some of the world's best distance men capable of challenging
Gebreselassie's world record. Sammy Wanjiru won the Olympic marathon in
fearless fashion, running away from the field with what appeared to be
reckless tactics given the Beijing conditions, and he can be somewhat
erratic still in his performances, but watch out if he gets it right.
There are many others to consider, but the man who intrigues me the most
is a debutant, Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea. Some athletes look destined
for the marathon. It was that same day as Khannouchi's win in 2002 that
Paula Radcliffe stepped beyond her track limitations. Tadese can do the
same. He looks right for the marathon somehow. Strong but economical.
Tough-minded and talented. He has had to play second and even third
fiddle to Kenenisa Bekele on the track, but on the roads he looks a more
formidable force. In 2007 he took the world cross-country crown that
Bekele had made his own and has won the world half-marathon
championship.
The debuts of athletes such as Tadese are always eagerly awaited and I
don't think he will let anyone down. His training has reportedly been
going very well and he will not be frightened to go with a fast pace.
Marathon running on the men's side seems to be entering a new era
largely because east Africans have finally appeared to have got to grips
with the nuances of training and race craft that the classic event
demands over its track distance counterparts. Tadese is the latest and
perhaps one of the best set to underline that point.
The other 36,000 or so competitors on Sunday might not realise it, but
they could be running in the best London Marathon yet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/apr/21/london-marathon-zersena
y-tadese-steve-cram
Zersenay Tadese
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