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Lee Rides Strong Finish to Win Dong-A Marathon

Posted March. 19, 2007 07:11,   

한국어

It was an uncommon victory and a dramatic race.

At the moment when the audience started to doubt and give up on him, 37-year-old Lee Bong-ju started to run.

Lee maintained a lead from the very start,. The leading pack consisted of about 10 runners at first. However, one by one, runners started to fall away from the lead group. Through 25km, eight runners were left in the lead group. At the 35km mark, only Lee and the other three Kenyan runners, Paul Kiprop Kirui, Laban Kipkemboi, and Edwin Komen, were left.

This race was a battle between one Korean and three Kenyans from the most powerful marathon nation in the world.

The greatest concern was who would make a decisive move first.

It was world record holder Kirui, who holds the world record time of 2:06:44, who tried to fight it out first. His best record is 36 seconds faster than Lee’s (2:07:20). Given the fact that Kirui’s record is from the 2006 Rotterdam Marathon whereas Lee’s best record is from 2000, Lee was overmatched on paper.

By the 35.15km mark, right before crossing the Jamsil Bridge, Kirui started to widen his lead with every stride. Lee was in second place, Komen in third, and Kipkemboi in fourth.

By 36km, when a downward slope started, the gap between the leader Kirui and the runner-up Lee Bong-ju was still widening, until Kirui widened his lead almost to 100m at the 38.5km mark.

When the audience, which was following the race through an electric scoreboard, saw Lee behind, they sighed aloud.

But then Lee made his final spurt. He closed ranks with Kirui and at the 40.62km mark, he passed by Kirui and moved away from him. Kirui had an embarrassed look on his face. At this moment the outcome was virtually written.

Lee Bong-ju said, “I thought that the Kenyan runner could not maintain his fast speed throughout the whole race. I was sure that I could catch him up unless I dropped by the wayside.”

Hwang Gyu-hun, the director of the Korea Athletics Federation, commented, “Lee Bong-ju’s endurance is well known. Lee defeated Kirui at psychological warfare.



kimsk@donga.com