london marathon 2009

BEN TV's Ayoub  Mzee  with London Marathon  2009 winner  Sam Wanjiru today

Ayoub  Mzee  with  BBC's Peter Msimbi  covering the London Marathon 2009

KENYA  DOES  IT  AGAIN 

By  Ayoub  Mzee, London 

In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer which began: "To believe this story you must believe that the human race be one joyous family, working together, laughing together, achieving the impossible. 

Today, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen." 

Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded questioning "..whether London could stage such a festival?"That  is  how  the  LONDON  MARATHON  was  born Today   2009 

The   results  with  ratifications are: 

POSITION           NAME                                 TIME 

1                     WANJIRU  WILLIAM               2:05:10 

2                      KABEDE                               2:05:20 

3                      GHARIB,JAQUAD                   2:05:27 

4                    MUTAI  EMANUEL                    2:06:53 

5                      RAMALAH  HENDRIX             2:07:44 

  

Defending champion Martin Lel of Kenya has failed to recover from the right hip injury he sustained during his final training session last weekend and has been forced to withdraw from today's Flora London Marathon.

Lel was hoping to win his fourth London title but after a late fitness test yesterday he was   advised to withdraw by medical staff.

Lel said: "I am very disappointed not to be able to compete for my fourth Flora London Marathon title but I need to be cautious. 

 

LONDON MARATHON STATISTICS

Champions and Course Records 

Year - Men - Women

1981 Dick Beardsley USA, Joyce Smith GBR 

Inge Simonsen NOR 

1982 Hugh Jones GBR Joyce Smith GBR 

1983 Mike Gratton GBR Grete Waitz NOR 

1984 Charlie Spedding GBR Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 

1985 Steve Jones GBR Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 

1986 Toshihiko Seko JPN Grete Waitz NOR 

1987 Hiromi Taniguchi JPN Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 

1988 Henrik Jorgensen DEN Ingrid Kristiansen NOR 

1989 Douglas Wakiihuri KEN Veronique Marot GBR 

1990 Allister Hutton GBR Wanda Panfil POL 

1991 Yakov Tolstikov URS Rosa Mota POR 

1992 Antonio Pinto POR Katrin Dorre GER 

1993 Eamonn Martin GBR Katrin Dorre GER 

1994 Dionicio Ceron MEX Katrin Dorre GER 

1995 Dionicio Ceron MEX Malgorzata Sobanska POL 

1996 Dionicio Ceron MEX Liz McColgan GBR 

1997 Antonio Pinto POR Joyce Chepchumba KEN 

1998 Abel Anton ESP Catherina McKiernan IRL 

1999 Abdelkader El Mouaziz MAR Joyce Chepchumba KEN 

2000 Antonio Pinto POR Tegla Loroupe KEN 

2001 Abdelkader El Mouaziz MAR Derartu Tulu ETH 

2002 Khalid Khannouchi USA Paula Radcliffe GBR 

2003 Gezahegne Abera ETH Paula Radcliffe GBR 

2004 Evans Rutto KEN Margaret Okayo KEN 

2005 Martin Lel KEN Paula Radcliffe GBR 

2006 Felix Limo KEN Deena Kastor USA 

2007 Martin Lel KEN Zhou Chunxiu CHN 

2008 Martin Lel KEN Irina Mikitenko GER

Course Records

Men 2008 Martin Lel KEN 2:05:15 

Women 2003 Paula Radcliffe GBR 2:15:25 (mixed race) 

Women 2005 Paula Radcliffe GBR 2:17:42 (women only)