Commanding victories for Kebede and Shobukhova
25.04.2010
Liliya Shobukhova became the first Russian ever to win the women’s race when she added the London title to her 2009 Chicago Marathon victory.
With the temperature at 10 degrees and winds light to non-existent, the conditions were pretty good for marathon running when the women set off. Indeed, in contrast to the men, who complained that the unexpected rain had slowed them down, Shobukhova described the conditions as "almost perfect".
No fewer than 17 athletes had asked to be taken out at 2:22 pace and the experienced Hungarian Aniko Kalovics set about her pacemaking task with determination, clipping through the first couple of miles in 5:25.
Mergia, Mikitenko, and Yamauchi all showed early at the head of the large group alongside Shobukhova but after just two miles the Olympic champion, Constantina Dita, was already 100m behind the leaders, just over 20s adrift. She eventually finished 50th.
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