Brad Morgan
5 November 2007
South Africa's Hendrick Ramaala finished third in the New York City Marathon on Sunday, in the process completing his collection of medals for the event: he won it in 2004 and finished second in 2005.
Running at or near the front of the field throughout the race, Ramaala led at the 10 kilometre mark, passing it in 31:23, with a number of big names tracking him, including Kenya's Martin Lel and Rodgers Rop, with Olympic champion Stefano Baldini lurking just behind them.
The halfway mark was reached in 65:45, and by 30 kilometres, Ramaala, Lel, Rop, their compatriot James Kwamboi, and Morocco's Abderrahim Gourmi had opened up a slight gap on the field.
Moved clear
Five kilometers further on, thanks to a series of spurts by Ramaala, they had moved 50 seconds clear of the chasing pack, which was being led by defending champion Marilson Gomes Dos Santos.
Lel then upped the pace to outsprint Goumri for the win, clocking 2:09:04, to repeat his success in the London Marathon, where he finished 12 seconds clear of the Morroccan.
Ramaala finished third in 2:11:25 and, although he finished over two minutes behind the winner, Lel paid tribute to the South African star after the race, saying that Ramaala and Goumri had given him a hard time.
For his part, Ramaala felt the early pace hurt his chances of victory, commenting that it was too slow.
Women's race
The women's race produced a titanic tussle between Paula Radcliffe and Geta Wami, with the Briton emerging triumphant in 2:23:31, 23 seconds ahead of the Ethiopian.
It was a great day for both athletes, as Radcliffe scored a stunning victory just 10 months after giving birth to her first child, while Wami was competing in her second major marathon in only 35 days, following her win in Berlin.
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong completed the race in an excellent 2:46:23, drawing the loudest cheers of all competitors from the estimated crowd of two-million spectators.
Armstrong's next port of call will be Johannesburg, where he will be the headliner at the annual gala "Nite of the Stars" banquet at the Coca-Cola Dome.
Disaster for Van Dyk
Sadly for South Africa, the country's world record holder in the wheelchair marathon, Ernst van Dyk, was unable to test his mettle in New York after his wheelchair went missing in transit.
A week earlier, in Japan, he had won in a season's best time of 1:23:33, and he arrived in New York on Thursday ready to make his mark. His baggage arrived with him - excepting for his wheelchair.
It marked the second time this season that Van Dyk has been the victim of such a problem, and both occurrences have had disastrous effects on his earnings. He reckons they have cost him half of his annual income, as well as endangering his sponsorship deals.
In Van Dyk's absence, Australia's Kurt Fearnley won the race in 1:33:58, over four minutes off Van Dyk's course record.
US-based South African Krige Schabort took second in 1:35:08.
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