Lawrence Cherono again made a last minute sprint to win the Chicago MarThin like he did in Boston earlier in the year
2019 Boston winner Lawrence Cherono made another last 400m sprint today in Bank of Chicago Marathon in a group of 4 athletes clocking 2:05:45.He was followed closely by Dejene Debela 2:05:46 and Asefa Mengstu 2:05:48.Mo Farah finished 8th in 2:09:58.
Lawrence has had a great form of consistent record of seven victories over 14 marathons.He crossed the finish line victoriously with arms in the air in celebration .He then knelt down on the ground and prayed.
The race started with Dickson Chumba leading the group cross the first mile at 4:42.The high speed forced runners to form two elite groups.The first pack consisted Chumba,Cherono,Debela,Bedan Karoki,Tura and Asefa Mengstu.The second pack was Mo Farah and Galen Rupp who came back after Achilles surgery.
The Ieading group hit 5km in 14:45 while Mo and Rupp did 14:47.At 10km ,the split was 29:27 and Mo and Rupp were already in the first group.Rupp started again dropping in the group followed by Mo Farah at 8 miles while the Dickson Chumba led team crossed it at 37:48.
At 15km, Karoki, Chumba, Cherono, Debela,Mengstu and Tura crossed it at 44:10. At 21km, Chumba led it through with 1:02:14.
Karoki up the pace to 25km in a group of six making it at 1:13:54.Chumba was back again in front but slightly struggling and led 30km at 1:28:58.This is the point where Chumba slowed and first group remain with 5 men.Debela charged and pushed hard making 35km split at 1:45:53 while Chumba struggled at 1:44:23.
Debela who looked strong crossed 40km 1:59:08. At this point, the race was between four athletes. The only thing to decide was final kick coz they were all running a tactical race.
At about 400m remaining, Lawrence Cherono made a surprise kick outshining the two Ethiopians and Bedan Karoki of Kenya. He finished with Debela in just a second behind. Cherono is remembered for making a kick in Boston too to beat Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa.
posted Sunday October 13th