KEBEDE CAPS EXCELLENT YEAR WITH FUKUOKA VICTORY
By David Monti with Ken Nakamura
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly. Used with permission.

He may only be 158 centimeters (5'-2") and 50 kilos (110 lbs.), but Tsegaye Kebede is rapidly becoming marathoning's Little Big Man. 

The 22 year-old Ethiopian capped off an excellent 2009 season with his second consecutive victory at the Fukuoka Marathon today in Japan, breaking his own course record by two seconds, and running a career best time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 18 seconds.  He won the race by about two and one-half minutes.

"I am very happy to run faster than expected," Kebede said in his post-race television interview.  "I don't know how to describe my happiness in words."

In addition to his Fukuoka victory today, Kebede also finished second at London last April (2:05:20), and earned the bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships Marathon in Berlin last August (2:08:35).  He must now be considered one of the world's top marathoners, in the same class as Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru and Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, both of whom won two top-class marathons this year in fast times.

In Fukuoka Kebede followed the pack and the pacing of Kenyan John Kales and Tanzanian Samson Ramadhani  through the first half in a somewhat conservative 1:03:05.  He stayed with the pacers through 25 km, before he took complete ownership of the race.

"I was convinced of my win after 30 kilometers when I started to run away from my competition," Kebede explained.  "I also knew that I had a chance for a personal best when I passed the 40-kilometer point much faster (1:59:01) than last year when I think I passed 40 km in 1:59:45."

Although well behind Kebede, second place Tekeste Kebede (no relation) also set a personal best of 2:07:52.  Ukrainian Dmytro Baranovskyy, who won the race in 2005, finished third in 2:08:19.  The man who was expected to be Kebede's biggest rival, Kenya's Evans Cheruiyot, finished a distant fifth in 2:09:46.  Debutant Mekubo Mogusu of Kenya fell off of the pace just before 25 km, and was forced to drop out after walking at 30 km.

While a number of good quality marathons remain in 2009, the best is Honolulu's next Sunday which has it's best field ever, led by Kenyans' Patrick Ivuti and Margaret Okayo.