Lelisa Desisa wins the New York Marathon at the last kilometer



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The 26.2 mile race was held in near perfect conditions, with little wind and temperatures in the '50s, and started like so many marathons here, with a large group of runners running around. elite grouped forward while they were flying over the Verrazzano-Narrows. Bridge, the highest point of the course.

Unlike the big marathons of Berlin and Chicago that run on flat courses and use pioneers to set world records, the New York course has many hills and turns that tend to produce tactical races favoring those who have already follow the course and finish quickly. Desisa and Kitata, for example, each ran more than one minute faster than the other courses.

Kitata made his debut in New York and seemed to make a rookie mistake by jumping early and speeding up. As a finalist of the London Marathon this year, Kitata has not been able to shake a group of runners including Kamworor, Desisa and Daniel Wanjiru of Kenya, who won the London Marathon in 2017.

Kitata resisted as the platoon caught up with him at the Queensboro Bridge, the second highest point of the race, around Mile 16. At this point, the runners in the lead were ready to run around 2:07, a very fast speed. time for New York. As the group headed First Avenue, Kamworor began to assert itself. He allowed Kitata to speed up, but on several occasions he signaled to the other runners to help him box in Kitata.

But the leading pack was Kitata, Desisa and Kamworor as they quickly crossed the Bronx, down the Madison Avenue Bridge and back to Manhattan. Down the Fifth Avenue, Kamworor took off his gloves and threw them on the ground, as if to taunt Desisa and Kitata.

Kitata slowed down and seemed exhausted, but Desisa was stuck with Kamworor as they entered Central Park about two miles away. The race was becoming a resumption of last year, when Kamworor held Wilson Kipsang in a sprint until the finish.

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