FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mulu Seboka smashes course record with 2:29:06 victory at Scotiabank
Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
TORONTO, September 28th. Ethiopia's Mulu Seboka didn't let humid and breezy
conditions slow her down as she set a new personal best of 2:29:06 to
convincingly win the 9th Annual Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Her
performance smashed the previos course record by more than four minutes,
set last year by compatriot Asha Gigi, who was third today. Ukraine's Olena
Shurkhno ran a very smart race to come through for second in 2:30:13, a PR
by more three minutes. The men's race proved far more tactical, and was
decided in an exciting sprint to the line as Kenneth Mungara held off
fellow-Kenyan Peter Kiprotich by 2 seconds for the victory, 2:11:01 to
2:11:03.
A record of more than 10,000 runners took off in a combined field of
marathoners [3100] and half marathoners [7300], from the new Start/Finish
venue at Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall, in the heart of downtown.
Another 4,700 took part in the separate 5K fun run. Although the
temperature did not rise much during the morning, it was already 17 degrees
celcius at the 7:30am Start, with cloudy skies and high humidity. Seboka
was content to sit in with the pacemakers and a group of 3 Ethiopians and 3
Kenyans for the first half of the contest. The group passed 10k in 35:05
and 21.1k in 1:13:49. Shurkhno, who appeared relaxed and focused all week
in Toronto prior to the race, was content to sit back, patiently, almost a
minute behind at halfway. By 30k, as they emerged from Tommy Thomson Park
into a stiff breeze, Seboka and Gigi were alone at the front. With Shurkhno
closing fast, and only 13 seconds back, Seboka made her decisive move. She
looked strong and confident throughout the morning and the result never
looked in doubt over the last 10k. "I wasn't expecting the time to be that
good," said the diminutive Ethiopian who just turned 24 years old on
Thursday. "But I was certain I would win! My fitness is good and nothing
was going to stop me." Seboka and the other Ethiopians said they were
definitely inspired by watching Haile Gebreselassie's world record run in
Berlin on the internet before leaving their hotel for the start line in
Toronto. "I left my village on my own when I was 17 to run in the big city.
Haile is like a father to us, an inspiration, although he often tells me
not to run so much." But it was perhaps Seboka's prodigious training
regimen, of more than 200 km some weeks, with 40k runs most mornings and
another one-hour run in the afternoon, that gave her an unassailable
strength on the Toronto Waterfront. "This is my personal best. I'm still
young. My dream is to be a champion. This is an important step. Perhaps I
now have a chance to make the team for the World Championships," she said.
Shurkhno, who had set her previous PR of 2:33:37 only 5 months ago at the
Country Music Marathon, was equally delighted with her disciplined
performance, running only a minute slower in the second half than the
first. In contrast, the other Africans wilted in the humidity: Gigi to
2:33:24; Caroline Cheptonui to 2:34:27 for 4th; and Atsede Bayisa to
2:35:56 for 5th.
The men's race started promisingly. A group of 10, that included last
year's champion and Canadian All-comers record-holder, John Kelai, followed
the 3 pacemakers nicely through 10k right on schedule for an expected
sub-2:10, at 30:19. At halfway, only Zimbabwe's George Mujaji had dropped
off the back, and at 64:41, the group had only slipped from 3:02s to
running 3:05s per kilometer. In the park, between 25k and 30k, the group
steadily broke up, with only Peter Kiprotich, who had run 2:08:49 in
Frankfurt last autumn, Kenneth Mungara, Prague winner in April, and
Ethiopia's Amensisa Ketema hanging onto a reduced pace from pacers Paul
Kimugul and Willian Chebon. They passed 30k in 1:33:09. with the sub 2:10
looking decidedly unlikely. By the time Kimugul and Chebon stepped off at
32k, Kiprotich had a gap of about 25 metres on Mungara with Ketema a
further distance back. Interestingly, Kiprotich then appeared to slow down
to allow Mungara to catch him. The two then worked with some purpose
getting back to 3:01 and 3:02 kilometres from 33km to 35km, and widening
the gap to some 100m over Ketema. Between 37km and 38km first Kiprotich and
then Mungara each tried a couple of time to get away. It was not until
after 41km that Mungara made a successful effort and opened up a 5 metre
gap that Kiprotich was unable to close, despite a thrilling sprint up Bay
Street to City Hall. Ketema crossed third in 2:11:52. David Taurus came
through for 4th in 2:12:13; Kelai was 5th in 2:12:43 suffering from cramps,
with Rome winner Jonathan Yego 6th in 2:13:23.
Canada's Dylan Wykes had a strong run in the conditions, in just his second
marathon, finishing first non-African in 11th in 2:16:21, and helping Team
Canada defeat Team Mexico and Team England in the developmental
International Team Challenge.
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