Great Britain’s Patrick Dever finished an excellent fourth on his marathon debut in the New York Marathon on Sunday (2) morning.
The European 10,000m sixth-placer clocked 2:08:58 and almost foiled the Kenyan clean sweep, finishing one second behind Albert Korir to provide the final part of the Kenyan 1-2-3 as Benson Kipruto won in 2:08:09, just ahead of Alexander Mutiso who was credited with the same time.
Dever covered all of the moves in the leading group and only ceded ground when Kipruto and Mutiso amped up the pace in the last five kilometres. The 29-year-old couldn’t quite run down Korir in the late stages but a fourth-place finish still represents a highly auspicious debut at the distance.
It was an encouraging morning for European distance running on the whole as three Europeans features inside the top eighth. A multiple world orienteering champion, Matthias Kyburz from Switzerland finished fifth in 2:09:55 while former European record-holder Sondre Nordstad Moen from Norway was eighth in 2:10:15.
Former European U23 cross country and 5000m champion Charles Hicks, who now runs for the United States having previously competed for Great Britain, was seventh on his marathon debut in 2:09:59.
Reigning champion Abdi Nageeye from the Netherlands dropped out after the 18-mile mark with hip and hamstring problems.
Hassan drops back to sixth
In the women’s race, Sifan Hassan’s hopes of taking a second major marathon victory in the space of just over two months dissipated over the course of the second half of her debut in New York.
There were echoes of her dramatic win in the Olympic Games as Hassan lost ground on the leaders on the hills twice before regaining contact on the flatter sections but there was not to be a repeat of those heroics in Paris from just over a year ago.
"This is the first marathon where I haven't been doing so well. I really thought I'd injured myself. My thighs, honestly, I could barely lift my knees. I couldn't do any hills," said Hassan as reported by NOS.
In an unusually fast race, Hassan - who admitted she had struggled with her recovery after winning the Sydney Marathon on 31 August in 2:18:32 - was dropped again just after the 30km checkpoint and faded to sixth in 2:24:43 in a race won by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri in a course record of 2:19:51, the first ever sub-2:20 performance by a woman on this course.
Hassan only just held onto the mantle of the leading European finisher. She was being closed down in the latter stages by Great Britain’s Jessica Warner-Judd who finished an excellent seventh on her marathon debut in 2:24:45.
Only seven weeks after finishing ninth in the marathon in gruelling conditions at the World Athletics Championships, Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack also finished a very creditable 10th in 2:27:00.