Mayaka comes from behind to win

Kiplimo’s increasing lead over the next five kilometres only served to underline that. But, with two kilometres to run Kiplimo began to falter; Mayaka saw his opportunity and with less than a kilometre to the finish, Mayaka swept into the lead and raced to victory in 2:11:04, almost half a minute ahead of his compatriot.

The outstanding pre-race favourite Gabriel Geay of Tanzania was threatening to drop off well before the lead pack of eight passed halfway in the men’s race in 64:56. Geay was soon gone, and by gradual attrition, Richard Rop’s pace proved too much for another Kenyan colleague Eric Kiptanui, Daniel Paulus of Namibia, Mogos Soloman of Eritrea and Peter Qambaway of Tanzania. When Rop dropped out at 32k, that left Mayaka and Kiplimo to play out their exciting endgame.

‘I thought I had the race won at 35k when Evans fell back,’ said Kiplimo, but I ran out of energy with three kilometres to go, and I could not respond as he came past’. An exuberant Mayaka, who bears a facial resemblance to former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, said, ‘I was resigned to second place until after 40k, when I realised Bonface was slowing. It was a great feeling to pass him at 41k and know that the race was mine’.

The drizzle for the first hour of the race, before dawn will have been very welcome for the majority of the 11,000+ participants from 39 countries for this inaugural event, as will the salsa bands and colourful murals dotting the mostly flat course around Santiago de Cali. But given the 19C (66F) temperature at the 5am start, the 95% humidity and the 1000+ metres altitude of Cali, Mayaka’s priority now should be to find a temperate sea-level marathon where he can post a time adjacent to that of Kiplimo and forge on with his career.