This race was predicted to be a close affair with any one of four women having the necessary credentials to take victory. These included Vira Ovcharuk of the Ukraine, Yelena Kozhevnikova of Russia (who have P.B.’s of just under 2 hrs 38 mins), Kenyan runner Rael Kimaiyo (P.B. of 2 hrs 41 mins), and last year’s winner Sarah Stradling of Colchester.
The pattern in the early miles seemed to confirm that no one was keen to dominate. At the 7-mile mark, all four were in contention in a time of 42 mins 45 secs which was on a par with a pace needed to break the 2008 course record of 2:39:22 set by Marashet Jimma.
Up to the halfway mark, the two Eastern European women were together along with Kimaiyo. However, Stradling appeared to be struggling some 30 secs in arrears. Last year’s winner had only decided at a very late stage to run in Belfast as her intention was to compete in London. Unfortunately, that race coincided with a close family bereavement and she accordingly switched to Belfast.
In the second half of the race the windy conditions along the M2 Foreshore, plus the lack of crowd support, affected the pace and it soon became evident that a new record was beyond reach. Thereafter, 30 year-old Ovcharuk forged ahead to establish an unassailable lead.
This was in part due to Vira’s limited marathon schedule in recent years which encompasses a maximum of two events per year, her best being a time of 2:37:49 for tenth place in Rome one year ago. In contrast, her Russian rival Yelena has taken part in no less than four marathons in the last twelve months – a highly demanding schedule.
Ovcharuk opened the gap further on her rivals in the closing stages and, at the finish, enjoyed a 2 mins victory margin of 2 hrs 46 mins 04 secs. Kozhevnikova took second in 2:48:05, with Kimaiyo third in 2:48:35. All three girls displayed varying degrees of exhaustion at the finish caused by a mixture of the tough course plus increasingly warm weather conditions. Last year’s winner failed to finish.
Ireland’s Maria Carey finished fourth in a useful time of 3:01:48, with Belfast’s Lisa Sturgeon fifth in 3:07:10 which was an improvement on her London time from only two weeks ago. Lisburn’s Heather Ardis excelled in sixth place in 3:12:07 which is a PB by some 5 mins.
Marathon organisers were delighted with the female entry of 831 which exceeded all expectations and is a far-cry from the entries of bygone years which were frequently below 50. Typical of the new breed of marathon-runner is 30 year-old Emily Trainor from Belfast who was delighted to achieve her target time of 3 hrs 45 mins in her first marathon.
Optician Emily, who works in France, only took up running some three years ago but, in the past twelve months, has substantially increased her training mileage. She has competed in the Paris Half-Marathon and intends to race in the Cannes Marathon in the autumn.
Asked as to the reason for women being more attracted to marathon running, she said,
“The marathon is the ultimate challenge. You feel that if you can complete a 26-mile race you can do almost anything. There is also the point that, if men can achieve this, then why can’t more of us women?”
“I like running as I experience a feeling of freedom when I’m out training. It is very therapeutic and helps to clear my head after a hard day’s work”.
Clearly Emily is not alone when expressing these feelings. This year’s marathon festival had a record 20,000 runners in the various events. This included a record 3,544 entries in the marathon itself, 12,110 running in the 5-person relay team event, 2,587 in the Marathon Walk and 1,767 in the Fun Run.
Not only are these participation levels at an all-time high, but the times of the rostrum winners in both the male and female events in the last five years have been consistently good.
With yesterday’s highly successful event, roll on the next 30 years of the Belfast Marathon!