Lance Armstrong meets goal in marathon debut
Brazilian claims N.Y. Marathon
Associated Press
Complete coverage of NYC Marathon NEW YORK -- The men's and women's champions long since had crossed the finish line when the Central Park crowds finally started to buzz. Lance Armstrong was coming.
The seven-time Tour de France winner made an impressive marathon debut Sunday, barely breaking his goal of 3 hours thanks to a finishing kick reminiscent of his storied rides through the Alps. But it came at a price.
``That was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done,'' said Armstrong, who finished 856th in the New York City Marathon. ``It was really a gradual progression of fatigue and soreness.
``I didn't train enough for a marathon,'' he said, his right shin heavily taped as he shuffled into a post-race news conference.
``In 20 years of pro sports and endurance sports, even the worst days on the Tour, nothing felt like that or left me the way I feel now.''
Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos finished strong to stun the favored Africans in the real race, ending their decade-long hold on the men's title. Latvia's Jelena Prokopcuka ran away from the women's field to win her second straight title, and wondered why no one challenged her.
It was another day of disappointment for American marathoners, who have not won here since 1982.
Armstrong crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds. The seven-time Tour de France champion struggled at times, but found the energy to meet the challenge. He was battling shin splints and had never before run longer than 16 miles.
His face tightened in pain, Armstrong virtually walked the last couple of steps. Then he slowed to a halt immediately after the finish line and bent to the ground. His green shirt was soaked with sweat.
``I think I bit off more than I could chew, I thought the marathon would be easier,'' he said. ``(My shins) started to hurt in the second half, especially the right one. I could barely walk up here, because the calves are completely knotted up.''
Gomes held off an all-star field of challengers to finish in 2:09:58 and become the first South American to win the race, man or woman.
In the final mile, as the race headed back into Central Park, Gomes surrendered about half the 30-second margin he had built over two Kenyans. He glanced over his shoulder several times, at one point doing a double-take when he saw a figure right behind him. But it was a woman runner, who had started a half-hour before the men.
``It wasn't a surprise, to win a marathon you have to have courage and today I had courage,'' Gomes said through an interpreter. ``I pushed the pace to get less people in the (lead) group. I kept pushing and they kept staying behind.''
It certainly was a surprise to defending champion Paul Tergat, who acknowledged later he didn't know much about Gomes. He and Kenyan compatriot Stephen Kiogora worked together to push Gomes at the end, but ran out of room. Kiogora was second in 2:10:06, while Tergat was third.
Kenyan men also took the fourth, fifth and seventh spots, with Olympic champion Stefano Baldini of Italy in sixth.
It was the first time in 10 years an African man hadn't won the race.
``Gomes, I did not know exactly who he was. When he decided to break, I think for some reason nobody wanted to move. We waited to see who else was going to move,'' Tergat said. ``The guy was motivated. To try to close at the last stages, it was too late.''
The top American was Peter Gilmore, who finished 10th in 2:13:13. U.S. runner Dathan Ritzenhein, making his marathon debut, was 11th in 2:14:01. Meb Keflezighi, who was third and second the last two years, finished 21st while battling a case of food poisoning.
The women's race became little more than a coronation after Prokopcuka made her bold move away from the lead pack, crushing the hopes of Deena Kastor, the world's top-ranked marathoner, who was favored to become the first American woman to win the race in nearly three decades.
Prokopcuka led nearly from start to finish on a perfect day for a marathon - cool, cloudy and little wind. Kastor finished sixth in 2:27:54. Prokopcuka became the first woman to win two straight titles since Tegla Loroupe of Kenya in 1994-95.
A record 38,368 runners started the race. Along with Armstrong, several celebrities finished the race, including mountain climber Ed Viesturs (3:15:25), former Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller (4:17:47), model Kim Alexis (4:39:49) and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (5:33:43).
The U.S. drought grew by another year. No American has won the New York City Marathon since Alberto Salazar in 1982, and no woman has won here since 1977. Until 1977, every New York race by won by an American man and woman.
``We will be competitive again,'' said Salazar, who helped pace Armstrong during the race, ``but it's unrealistic to think we will ever dominate marathoning again.''
Originally Posted by badger
