Kamworor now shifts focus to cross country

IN NEW YORK CITY

In true sportsmanship, “man of all surfaces” Geoffrey Kamworor gracefully accepted defeat in Sunday’s New York City Marathon, immediately shifting focus to one of his best terrains, the cross country.

Having outwitted his rivals last year - more spectacularly his Ugandan teammate at the Global Sports Communication’s NN Running Team, Joshua Cheptegei, at the Kampala edition of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships – Kamworor is now focused on retaining the title in Aarhus, Denmark, next March.

Ethiopia’s 28-year-old Lelisa Desisa won the New York race in two hours, five minutes and 59 seconds, the second fastest time ever run at the “Big Apple” while compatriot Shura Kitata was second in 2:06:01 with Kamworor third in 2:06:26.

Kamworor looked set to defend his title on Sunday but when he withered while approaching Central Park, his manager Jos Hermens knew it was over.

“Kamworor suffered a back problem and these things happen. But he will be back in cross country and from there we shall see…” Hermens said.

CONCEDED

And appearing relaxed at the team hotel after the race, the 26-year-old Kamworor accepted defeat.

“In sports, you can’t always win. There are winners and losers… I had issues with my back, but that’s part of the game. Yes, I will now focus on cross country,” he said.

“I tried my best and I’m happy with a place on the podium,” the decorated Kenya Police runner added.

Having won the last three consecutive editions of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, Kamworor, who trains with world marathon record-holder Eliud Kipchoge at Global’s Kaptagat camp, was sixth in the 10,000 metres at last year’s IAAF World Championships in London, making him indeed a man of all surfaces for his track, road and cross country exploits.

Desisa ran alongside Kipchoge in Nike’s ambitious “Breaking2” project last year in which the American sportswear giant sought to produce the first man to run the 42-kilometre marathon distance in under two hours.

While Kipchoge came agonisingly close, just 25 seconds off the target, Desisa, 28, dropped off with injury under bespoke conditions at the Monza Formula One racing track in Italy.
But on Sunday, Desisa, who gave his Boston Marathon winner’s medal back to the city after winning the 2013 edition in honour of victims of a bomb attack during the race, acknowledged that the “Breaking2” training regime held him in good stead and was key to his victory here on Sunday.
“In the last two years, I participated in ‘Breaking2’ but I was unlucky because I had injuries. Injuries are very difficult,” he responded to a question from Nation Sport.
“I had problems with my hip which I treated but it wasn’t good enough for the (two-hour) target.
“The ‘Breaking2’ programme was very helpful… I trained with many students from the university (in Addis Ababa) and I learnt everything about training, about recovery and about nutrition. “Today, it helped me. My injury is gone and I continue to chase the target. Thank you ‘Breaking2.’ Generally, it was very helpful.”

Meanwhile, after winning the women’s race in the second-fastest time ever in New York of 2:22:48, Kenya’s Mary Keitany was treated like royalty by organisers here.

On Monday night, she was on the front row at the VVIP section of Madison Square Garden for the NBA game between home team New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls which the Bulls won 115-114 in double overtime.

Before that, Keitany was a special guest at the Live Ryan and Kelly TV show after attending a special ceremony at Central Park where she, along with other race winners, thanked the New York Police Department (NYPD) for securing the race with 52,812 runners safely home.

A much sought-after athlete, Keitany hardly gets any accolades from her own Kenyan government and it will be interesting to see if Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa will give the four-time New York Marathon champion the respect she deserves when she lands back home tomorrow morning.

She was also expected to open trading at the New York Stock Exchange, a true legend.