Talk about coming out of nowhere.
Ethiopian Berhane Adere was a half-minute behind Romanian newcomer Adriana Pirtea with less than a mile to go Sunday at the hot, humid LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Pirtea had run a well-paced race and had started waving to the crowd, smiling and certain victory was hers.
And then it happened.(Catch it here: http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=36199@wbbm.dayport.com)
Unknown to Pirtea, Adere, the defending Chicago champion, had started a furious kick with about 600 meters left and came blazing around the final turn from Roosevelt to Columbus at full throttle. Looking like a sprinter fresh out of the blocks, the crafty veteran Adere stayed to the far right and closed down the gap in a hurry while Pirtea ran comfortably down the left side, having no idea her world was about to be turned upside down.
With 50 meters to go, Adere unbelievably surged into the lead, and Pirtea, finally seeing what was happening, tried to change gears but couldn't rekindle her mojo. Adere was sprinting so far to the right, she missed the ceremonial finish tape but crossed the front of the electronic timing mat, the only thing that counts. With her torrid finish, she won the slow, tactical race in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 49 seconds. A stunned Pirtea finished in 2:33:52, having learned a valuable lesson. It was the most unusual Chicago Marathon finish anyone could remember.
Bizarre and astonishing were two words that came to mind.
''With two kilometers to go, [I decided to] sprint,'' Adere said, admitting she had suffered a ''bad patch'' around the 22-mile mark, allowing Pirtea to make a solid break after the two had run together since breaking Russian Alevtina Ivanova just past 16 miles.
The very soft-spoken Adere said she could see that Pirtea was slowing down in the final stages and knew she still had a chance. She made the most of it.
Pirtea, who ran track at Texas-El Paso, has one image of Adere she wished she didn't have. ''I saw her flying [by her],'' Pirtea said. ''I wanted to push the pace, but it was too late. I didn't know what to feel. When I realized what actually happened, I had tears in my eyes.''
''I thought that someone in the crowd would say 'go' or 'someone's coming,' but nobody said anything,'' she said of the loud cheering on the final straightaway. ''I never looked back. That was my mistake.''
Kate O'Neill of Milton, Mass., was the second surprise in the women's race, moving from back in the field early to third place and a spot on the podium in her debut 26.2-miler. A former track All-American at Yale, O'Neill threw out any notion of running a fast time and focused on getting third place after going through the half-marathon in 1:15:40. One-by-one, she picked off fading runners, including Liz Yelling of Great Britain, Benita Johnson of Australia, Nuta Olaru of Romania, Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia and Ivanova.
''I felt really good for the first half,'' O'Neill said. ''I didn't feel so good for the second half and knew I had to be careful with each mile. This is a surprise to come in third. I'm real excited.''
The women's race had another surprise when Paige Huggins of Littleton, Colo., also worked her way through the carnage of heat-depleted elites for eighth place. Her time was 2:40:14.
Yelling ended up fourth in 2:37:14, Johnson fifth in 2:38:30 and Olaru sixth in 2:39:04. Ivanova was handed a hat and given water by a coach during the race, and her status as the 11th-place finisher was under review by officials of USA Track and Field.
Adere earned $125,000, Pirtea $65,000, O'Neill $43,500, including $4,500 as bonus for first American, Yelling $25,000 and Johnson $15,000.
Former University of Wisconsin All-American Kathy Butler, a Canadian native who runs for Great Britain, led the women's field through the early miles but was caught by the lead pack before six miles and gradually faded from contention.(Chicago SunTimes)
Ethiopian Berhane Adere was a half-minute behind Romanian newcomer Adriana Pirtea with less than a mile to go Sunday at the hot, humid LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Pirtea had run a well-paced race and had started waving to the crowd, smiling and certain victory was hers.
And then it happened.(Catch it here: http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=36199@wbbm.dayport.com)
Unknown to Pirtea, Adere, the defending Chicago champion, had started a furious kick with about 600 meters left and came blazing around the final turn from Roosevelt to Columbus at full throttle. Looking like a sprinter fresh out of the blocks, the crafty veteran Adere stayed to the far right and closed down the gap in a hurry while Pirtea ran comfortably down the left side, having no idea her world was about to be turned upside down.
With 50 meters to go, Adere unbelievably surged into the lead, and Pirtea, finally seeing what was happening, tried to change gears but couldn't rekindle her mojo. Adere was sprinting so far to the right, she missed the ceremonial finish tape but crossed the front of the electronic timing mat, the only thing that counts. With her torrid finish, she won the slow, tactical race in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 49 seconds. A stunned Pirtea finished in 2:33:52, having learned a valuable lesson. It was the most unusual Chicago Marathon finish anyone could remember.
Bizarre and astonishing were two words that came to mind.
''With two kilometers to go, [I decided to] sprint,'' Adere said, admitting she had suffered a ''bad patch'' around the 22-mile mark, allowing Pirtea to make a solid break after the two had run together since breaking Russian Alevtina Ivanova just past 16 miles.
The very soft-spoken Adere said she could see that Pirtea was slowing down in the final stages and knew she still had a chance. She made the most of it.
Pirtea, who ran track at Texas-El Paso, has one image of Adere she wished she didn't have. ''I saw her flying [by her],'' Pirtea said. ''I wanted to push the pace, but it was too late. I didn't know what to feel. When I realized what actually happened, I had tears in my eyes.''
''I thought that someone in the crowd would say 'go' or 'someone's coming,' but nobody said anything,'' she said of the loud cheering on the final straightaway. ''I never looked back. That was my mistake.''
Kate O'Neill of Milton, Mass., was the second surprise in the women's race, moving from back in the field early to third place and a spot on the podium in her debut 26.2-miler. A former track All-American at Yale, O'Neill threw out any notion of running a fast time and focused on getting third place after going through the half-marathon in 1:15:40. One-by-one, she picked off fading runners, including Liz Yelling of Great Britain, Benita Johnson of Australia, Nuta Olaru of Romania, Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia and Ivanova.
''I felt really good for the first half,'' O'Neill said. ''I didn't feel so good for the second half and knew I had to be careful with each mile. This is a surprise to come in third. I'm real excited.''
The women's race had another surprise when Paige Huggins of Littleton, Colo., also worked her way through the carnage of heat-depleted elites for eighth place. Her time was 2:40:14.
Yelling ended up fourth in 2:37:14, Johnson fifth in 2:38:30 and Olaru sixth in 2:39:04. Ivanova was handed a hat and given water by a coach during the race, and her status as the 11th-place finisher was under review by officials of USA Track and Field.
Adere earned $125,000, Pirtea $65,000, O'Neill $43,500, including $4,500 as bonus for first American, Yelling $25,000 and Johnson $15,000.
Former University of Wisconsin All-American Kathy Butler, a Canadian native who runs for Great Britain, led the women's field through the early miles but was caught by the lead pack before six miles and gradually faded from contention.(Chicago SunTimes)
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