The growth of the Barcelona Marathon
Record participation of 7.500 athletes in Barcelona Marathon, Kenyan Chebii triumphs
The Barcelona Marathon of 2007 yesterday gained the battle of its survival and began to dream of its future. In the Pla?
Espanya the crowd of athletes gathered, 7.441 for the long test and 2.100 more in the 10 kms. The spectacle at the start lasted more
than seven minutes, until the last runner passed through the start, and from then the city yielded its streets to convert the
morning in a cosmopolitan and even comprehensive festival, with 5.000 foreign athletes, originating in 42 countries, discovering a
magnificent setting and an unexpected summer, although the heat was more an enemy than an ally for the athletes.
Two hours later, Johnstone Chebii, a 'workman' of athletics and a Kenyan of 38 years, with something less than ten marathons to his
credit, the triumph completed in a worthy (2h.12'04"), although very distant from the 2h.09'48" that Abdeslam Serrokh achieved in
1998. Krstijna Loonen reigned among the women with a time more modest (2h.42'02").
The race at the front was summarized easily: Chebii and other two Kenyans, James Mibei and the 'hare' Hosea Kosgei, they went alone
in search of a time close to 2h.10', (1h.05'55 at halfway) and then faded when Chebii ran alone from 28 km. In a second group the
Catalonian Roger Rock, the Andorran Toni Bernad?and Mustapha Younes carried Rock to dream of a world time, but the cramps crucified
him.