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The 38th Running of the New York City Marathon - The Women's Race
by John Elliott
The Women's race at the 2007 ING New York City Marathon held a number of stories and races within the race. The first story, of course, was one of a deep women's elite field - consisting of two-time New York City Marathon winner, Jelena Prokopcuka; one-time New York City Marathon winner and world-record holder, Paula Radcliffe; former world-record holder and World Marathon Champion, Catherine Ndereba; two-time Berlin Marathon winner, London Marathon runner-up and World Marathon Majors points leader, Gete Wami; and Boston Marathon winner, Lidiya Grigoryeva. That's the race, and that's story number one... Story number two: the World Marathon Majors - $500,000 to be given to Gete Wami unless her competition, Jelena Prokopcuka, could win or finish in the top three, two or more places ahead of Wami. Would Wami play it safe and stick on Prokopcuka? Could Prokopcuka make it a New York Three-peat and take the $500,000 bonus? Story three: how would Wami hold up after winning Berlin in 2:23 just 34 days earlier - is that really too short a recovery, even if the run was a solo effort without much competition? Story four: Paula Radcliffe.... After a disappointing second place finish at her first race back from childbirth, the Great North Run Half-Marathon, did the world-record holder still have what it takes to compete against a world class field?
The day to tell each of those stories and to answer all questions was set for Sunday, November 4, 2007 - the ING New York City Marathon and arguably one of the greatest women's fields ever assembled - at least on paper. The fact that one of the stories involved a $500,000 payday excited much of the press. We were excited by all of the stories.
The race began and from the beginning Paula Radcliffe took the lead. That is often her style and with her leadership, the front pack first settled at seven runners and then quickly dropped to three - Radcliffe, Jelena Prokopcuka and Gete Wami. It seemed that Radcliffe was trying to prove that she was back in top form and it seemed that Wami would be watching Prokopcuka. But by mile 2, Radcliffe, with Wami in tow, were already ahead of all others. Catherine Ndereba was alone in third - just behind. Prokopcuka was already in fourth with Grigoryeva, Constantina Tomescu-Dita and Elva Dryer. From mile 2 - the women's race was turning into a two-person battle.
Radcliffe continued to push the pace with Wami on her tail and the pace turned into course record pace - with the gap between the leaders growing ever further. By mile 5 (26:59), Radcliffe/Wami were twelve seconds ahead of the course record pace and thirty seconds ahead of any others. By mile 10, Radcliffe/Wami were more than a minute ahead of course record pace and nearly two minutes ahead of the chase pack which consisted of just three: Ndereba, Prokopcuka and Grigoryeva.
And from mile 5, the race became a battle between Radcliffe and Wami - and an epic battle at that. The battle for places three through five were simple in comparison, with Prokopcuka being the first to make a move before mile 20, and with Grigoryeva holding tight, Ndereba falls behind - and Ndereba would run the final six miles alone to fifth place. Prokopcuka would pick up the pace and actually gain on the leaders in the final miles, but for her it would be a run alone to a third place finish.
At the front, Radcliffe would lead virtually the entire race with Wami sitting behind letting Radcliffe do the work. Both should have been below their best - Radcliffe was racing nine months after giving birth and Wami was racing just 34 days after running another marathon. But despite the "should have been," both women were running ahead of the course record. And the two would be ahead of course record pace through mile 20, but then would slow as Radcliffe made a decision to save herself somewhat for the final part of the race. At one point Radcliffe put a small surge into her run and gapped Wami - but Radcliffe slowed again and Wami caught back up. Radcliffe would tell us later that she wasn't even aware that she had dropped Wami - Radcliffe has a rule never to look back as it is a sign of weakness. Radcliffe would also tell us that had she been running alone, she might have continued along faster, but that she had chosen to slow and regroup to be ready for a sprint finish. Watching the race, we couldn't know any of this and it was truly impossible to tell whether Radcliffe - with her typical grimace which might be confused for pain - was tiring and whether Wami was still fresh.
The two women would run together until 1/2 mile from the finish when Radcliffe put on a surge, breaking away from Wami and Wami responded - strongly passing Radcliffe. But Wami seemed to knock herself out with the effort to rejoin and pass Radcliffe and had nothing left for the final 500 meters. Radcliffe, seeing Wami with her and not realizing she was tiring, responded again with a full-on push and ran strongly to the finish - again, we are told unaware that she had lost Wami. At the end, Radcliffe would finish the course in 2:23:09 for first place and Wami would struggle in 23 seconds later - a gap that was achieved in just over 1/4 mile.
For Radcliffe, her time of 2:23:09 was just faster than her 2004 New York City Marathon finish time - 2:23:10. But the fact that she strategically slowed herself for a portion of the race, suggests that Radcliffe was in even better shape than she was in 2004 - and she told us that she feels better and stronger than she ever has. In addition to her successful return to marathoning, Radcliffe qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, so this race also satisfied that requirement for Radcliffe.
For Wami, the race showed that she could run a strong marathon after Berlin - although not as strong as Paula Radcliffe. She also gained a $500,000 bonus as the World Marathon Majors champion.
The Finishers:
1. Paula Radcliffe - 2:23:09.
2. Gete Wami - 2:23:32.
3. Jelena Prokopcuka - 2:26:13.
4. Lidiya Grigoryeva - 2:28:37.
5. Catherine Ndereba - 2:29:08.
6. Elva Dryer - 2:35:15. (first American)
7. Robyn Friedman - 2:39:19.
8. Tegla Loroupe - 2:41:58.
9. Melisa Christian - 2:42:07.
10. Alvina Begay - 2:42:46.
Post-Race Coverage: The Men's Race | The Women's Race | Photo Gallery
Pre-Race: Preview and Starter List |
Elite Athletes Past Performances | Men's Pre-Race Comments | A Chat w/ Abderrahim Goumri
Archive: Live Coverage
Results: Complete Searchable Results
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