Moscow 2013: Marathon disappointment for Marchant and DuChene

An August marathon at the hottest point in the day proved to be too much for Krista DuChene and Lanni Marchant, Canada’s two top women’s marathoners in Moscow.

DuChene was forced to retire from the IAAF world championships marathon very early due to the heat. “At 13K I went for my fluid bottle and literally collapsed,” DuChene said after setting off the course to end her day. “2 p.m. in August to do a marathon is a little ridiculous.”

Marchant looked like she was going to overcome the conditions, running in a pack with a top 20 finish on the horizon. But at the 20K mark she began to slow, giving in to the 28-degree heat on a looped, shadeless course that featured little crowd support. “My calf went, my shins went tingly, but I didn’t even realize it until my leg gave out,” she said after limping across the finish line. “Before that I was thinking, ‘Man I feel fantastic, this is my race.’ I went around one of those bends and the legs just went.”

A native of London, Ont., Marchant was hoping to challenge the Canadian record with a sub-2:30 finish in Moscow. Instead, she had to settle for just surviving, walking parts of the last 10K for a 3:01:54 finish. She placed 44th overall in a field that was decimated by the conditions. “Like 50% of the field dropped out so I felt a little better when I heard that,” DuChene said.

The race at the front was Italian Valeria Straneo’s to lose. She led nearly the entire marathon, all the way to 40K, running a steady pace, seemingly unaffected by the heat. But her decision to front-run ended up hurting her in the end, as defending world champion Edna Kiplagat made the decisive move with 2K to go and won in 2:25:44.

The Kenyan became the first woman to ever successfully defend a world championship marathon title. She won in Daegu, South Korea in 2011. Kiplagat sat back in the chase pack in the first 5K, then boldly bridged the gap to put herself in contention. Japan’s Kayoko Fukushi secured the bronze medal with a hard effort. There was much pressure on the Japanese team to deliver some hardware, as there was some speculation that the reason for the late day start was to appease Japanese television broadcasts. The marathon is a huge spectator sport in Japan. The two Japanese women delivered, with Ryoko Kizaki placing fourth. By contrast, Kiplagat was the only African in the top 10.

DuChene was somber after the race, sticking to her pre-Moscow decision to step away from the marathon for at least the rest of 2013. “I’ve never dropped out of a race in my life. Definitely going to be taking a break now, then we’ll see.”

Click here for the complete results of the women’s marathon.