Another year and another successful London marathon. When you have Paris, Boston and the slew of other marathons all vying for attention during the month of April, it probably is best that these events take place before and not after, as they tend to provide a build up to the marathon which now undoubtedly is the Best of the Big City marathons.
And after Sunday, London will now become a feature in the mind's eye of many Americans after the truly successful debut of Ryan Hall.
Hats off to Dave Bedford and his team for getting the lad to take a crack at the distance amongst such a stellar field.
When Hall took the lead so late in the race it would have been a victory for many an American. Despite Deena Kastor winning London in 2006 with a sub 2:20 performance, this is something inspiring for a great many of the youngsters and this may ultimately have the same effect as Frank Shorters victory in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
We are not talking about relation to performance but inspiration.
The race was certainly a day for Champions especially amongst the men and Martin Lel delivered a magnificent 'coup de grace' in capturing the title over the final straight ahead of Moroccan debutant Abderrahim Goumri.
For Haile Gebrselassie it was yet again not a successful day at London and it is again back to the drawing board regarding his performances when surrounded by a stellar field that can go the distance. Beijing 2008 still needs a fair amount of work. The difference to the track and marathon is that his reputation alone was like a spell over his opposition, the marathon is a different beast. He will however be back.
The winning of Zhou certainly places her as a candidate to win the Olympics in 2008, however to forecast a year in advance is plain folly as anything can happen from 1 week to the next however she has certainly placed her marker.
The surprise New York City marathon winner of 2006, Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos showed his performance was no fluke and performed considerably well considering that the next marathon after a big win can often be a disappointment.
Bring on the track season
TheEd
