Source: Chron, Running Jan. 30, 2011
East African nation produces 3rd consecutive male champ, 5th straight female
Still, as long as any East African toes the starting line, an official bib pinned to his — or her — jersey, it figures to be an uphill slog, so Gotcher didn’t hit the road suffering from excessive delusions of grandeur.
“But I felt good early on, (for) about 15 miles,” he said. “I was focused. I did the same training as last year. Right now, it’s hard to pinpoint what went wrong.”
Not really. He found himself chasing an Ethiopian. No matter that Bekana Daba, a 22-year-old wisp of a man with just one previous marathon under his size extra-small belt, was listed as Bekana Tolesa on the official roster of entrants. A rose is a rose is a rose, and of late, Ethiopian runners have annually flowered on Houston’s streets.
Running a 2:07:04 under difficult circumstances on several levels, Daba
Tolesa became the third man from his country in three years to set the course record. Also, Mamitu Daska, from you-know-where, too, gave Ethiopia five consecutive women’s titles, although her 2:26:33 did end a four-year streak of broken distaff records.
The 27-year-old Daska finished 14 seconds ahead of the race’s favored Ethiopian female, Ashu Kasim, 26. American Stephanie Rothstein delivered a personal breakout performance to take a satisfying third, but she crossed the finish line more than three minutes off Daska’s pace.
Break time
Although Gotcher had a bad day, admitting he endured “a whole lot of suffering out there,” it’s hard to imagine him at his best churning along remotely as effortlessly as did Daba, who was a one-man show practically from the Galleria back into downtown. Such was the size of his cushion that he made a brief Porta-Potty pit stop with about two-tenths of a mile left.
Seriously.
Yes, Daba sheepishly admitted to his agent, Hussein Makké, that he had drunk too much water en route while trying to combat the rainy morning’s thick, dehydrating humidity, and, well, something had to give. Had he also detoured for a bagel and a cup of coffee, or to check his e-mails, it might have been a competitive race.
The 26-year-old Gotcher, paced by his friend and Flagstaff, Ariz., training teammate, Nick Arciniaga, said he began “to feel it in my legs at 16 miles.” No wonder. The lead pack of six ran a 4:29 split for the 14th mile and, after slowing for the 15th, reeled off a 4:38, a 4:38 and a 4:34 in succession, at which point Gotcher admitted: “(My) wheels started to come off, and it got pretty ugly.
“But adidas (his sponsor) brought out 300 kids, and they were all wearing shirts with my face on it. So as I went by them, I told myself, ‘I’ve got to finish this thing.’ ”
Gotcher’s 2:19:30 left him in sixth place, after a 2:10:36 a year earlier had brought him home seventh, less than three minutes off Teshome Gelana’s then Houston- and Texas-record time. Daba trounced him by more than 12 minutes with an average 4:51 pace per mile.
Ironically, Arciniaga, 27, claimed second with a personal-best 2:11:30 after deciding to finish. He can’t be accused of abandoning Gotcher for personal gain, though.
“I tried to encourage him to keep going,” Arciniaga said. “At about 15 miles, I told Brett, ‘Look, they’re coming back.’ But it turned out one of them didn’t.”
Wilfred Murgor and Daba together jettisoned the increasingly gassed Americans, but Murgor, also a hired pacer, soon surrendered as well. Daba had collapsed late in his debut marathon in Amsterdam last fall, and he wasn’t going to let that happen again, coming to Houston fully prepared for the demands of the distance.
Despite the restroom break, Daba covered the final 13.1 miles in 1:02:47 after a 1:04:17 start. The corresponding times in the Dutch race had been 1:03:05 and 1:11:35.
“At that time, I was not ready,” said Daba, more recognized before Sunday as an excellent track runner.
Daba on cruise control
This day, as impressively as he finished, he said he didn’t finish nearly as strongly as he felt he could have.
“If I run with somebody, I change all,” he insisted in English, prompted by an interpreter. In other words, he still had another gear if one had been remotely necessary.
Neither of the last two Ethiopian men’s winners, Gelana and Deriba Merga, returned to defend his title — course-record-setting victories tend to drive up appearance money demands — so we may not see Daba again, either. But barring injury, Gotcher is certain to give Houston another go in January 2011.
He’ll be back for the Olympic Marathon Trials, seeking a place on the U.S. team for London in 2012.
“I was very fortunate to have it go well last year,” Gotcher said. “This year was definitely a learning experience. I’m not going to forget about this race. Somewhere down the line, hopefully a year from now, it will be my day.”
East African nation produces 3rd consecutive male champ, 5th straight femaleWhen the two top runners expected for the Chevron Houston Marathon were forced from the field because of visa problems, a changing of the guard seemed possible, if not imminent.
At the very least, a door opened for an American, Brett Gotcher, to have a chance to win, which last happened in 2002 when no elite foreign athletes participated because there was no prize money offered. Gotcher, in fact, was seeded first based on a brilliant showing in his debut marathon here last year. Still, as long as any East African toes the starting line, an official bib pinned to his — or her — jersey, it figures to be an uphill slog, so Gotcher didn’t hit the road suffering from excessive delusions of grandeur.
“But I felt good early on, (for) about 15 miles,” he said. “I was focused. I did the same training as last year. Right now, it’s hard to pinpoint what went wrong.”
Not really. He found himself chasing an Ethiopian. No matter that Bekana Daba, a 22-year-old wisp of a man with just one previous marathon under his size extra-small belt, was listed as Bekana Tolesa on the official roster of entrants. A rose is a rose is a rose, and of late, Ethiopian runners have annually flowered on Houston’s streets.
Running a 2:07:04 under difficult circumstances on several levels, Daba
Tolesa became the third man from his country in three years to set the course record. Also, Mamitu Daska, from you-know-where, too, gave Ethiopia five consecutive women’s titles, although her 2:26:33 did end a four-year streak of broken distaff records.
The 27-year-old Daska finished 14 seconds ahead of the race’s favored Ethiopian female, Ashu Kasim, 26. American Stephanie Rothstein delivered a personal breakout performance to take a satisfying third, but she crossed the finish line more than three minutes off Daska’s pace.
Break time
Although Gotcher had a bad day, admitting he endured “a whole lot of suffering out there,” it’s hard to imagine him at his best churning along remotely as effortlessly as did Daba, who was a one-man show practically from the Galleria back into downtown. Such was the size of his cushion that he made a brief Porta-Potty pit stop with about two-tenths of a mile left.
Seriously.
Yes, Daba sheepishly admitted to his agent, Hussein Makké, that he had drunk too much water en route while trying to combat the rainy morning’s thick, dehydrating humidity, and, well, something had to give. Had he also detoured for a bagel and a cup of coffee, or to check his e-mails, it might have been a competitive race.
The 26-year-old Gotcher, paced by his friend and Flagstaff, Ariz., training teammate, Nick Arciniaga, said he began “to feel it in my legs at 16 miles.” No wonder. The lead pack of six ran a 4:29 split for the 14th mile and, after slowing for the 15th, reeled off a 4:38, a 4:38 and a 4:34 in succession, at which point Gotcher admitted: “(My) wheels started to come off, and it got pretty ugly.
“But adidas (his sponsor) brought out 300 kids, and they were all wearing shirts with my face on it. So as I went by them, I told myself, ‘I’ve got to finish this thing.’ ”
Gotcher’s 2:19:30 left him in sixth place, after a 2:10:36 a year earlier had brought him home seventh, less than three minutes off Teshome Gelana’s then Houston- and Texas-record time. Daba trounced him by more than 12 minutes with an average 4:51 pace per mile.
Ironically, Arciniaga, 27, claimed second with a personal-best 2:11:30 after deciding to finish. He can’t be accused of abandoning Gotcher for personal gain, though.
“I tried to encourage him to keep going,” Arciniaga said. “At about 15 miles, I told Brett, ‘Look, they’re coming back.’ But it turned out one of them didn’t.”
Wilfred Murgor and Daba together jettisoned the increasingly gassed Americans, but Murgor, also a hired pacer, soon surrendered as well. Daba had collapsed late in his debut marathon in Amsterdam last fall, and he wasn’t going to let that happen again, coming to Houston fully prepared for the demands of the distance.
Despite the restroom break, Daba covered the final 13.1 miles in 1:02:47 after a 1:04:17 start. The corresponding times in the Dutch race had been 1:03:05 and 1:11:35.
“At that time, I was not ready,” said Daba, more recognized before Sunday as an excellent track runner.
Daba on cruise control
This day, as impressively as he finished, he said he didn’t finish nearly as strongly as he felt he could have.
“If I run with somebody, I change all,” he insisted in English, prompted by an interpreter. In other words, he still had another gear if one had been remotely necessary.
Neither of the last two Ethiopian men’s winners, Gelana and Deriba Merga, returned to defend his title — course-record-setting victories tend to drive up appearance money demands — so we may not see Daba again, either. But barring injury, Gotcher is certain to give Houston another go in January 2011.
He’ll be back for the Olympic Marathon Trials, seeking a place on the U.S. team for London in 2012.
“I was very fortunate to have it go well last year,” Gotcher said. “This year was definitely a learning experience. I’m not going to forget about this race. Somewhere down the line, hopefully a year from now, it will be my day.”
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