Wanjiru and Shobukhova Win Chicago Marathon 2010

In an exciting finish of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, the 23 year old defending champion  Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, true to his fighting spirit, beat Tsegay Kebede of Ethiopia, who was the champion of London Marathon, to take the win. It was one of the toughest race for both men and women.

 

He had to sprint to the finish with an official time of 2:06:24. As he crossed he waved and signaled to the crowd. Just behind, him trailing in hot pursuit, Kebede finished the race in 2:06:42. After some time, the next runner by the name of Feyisa Lilesa finished the race in 2:08:10.

"Today was a very tough day," said the exhausted Wanjiru. "We were fighting together. The problem was who was going to finish first."Wanjiru praised on the good condition of the weather and the wonderful crowd support for it motivated him to give his last spurt of energy to a sprint win.

In the women race, Russia's Liliya Shobukhova defended her title again and emerged as the champion. Her time was 2:20:25. It was a personal best time which showed a big margin of 5min improvement from her last year’s pb of 2hr 25m. It is also the Russian’s national record for marathon.