|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Portugal's Castro satisfied with second
Posted: Sunday November 07, 1999 05:29 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Second was good enough for this time for Domingos Castro. "I am very happy," the Portuguese runner said after finishing six seconds behind Joseph Chebet of Kenya at the New York City Marathon on Sunday. "Before New York, many people think Castro may be dead, because I am old man," he said. "This is 36 years old." Castro, who is 35, said he had trained for two months, concentrating on this race. "Two weeks ago, when I won a 20K race in Paris against four tough athletes, after the race I thought to myself that in New York I can run very fast," he said. And he did, timed in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 20 seconds. "A good time for me today," Castro said. Castro ran side-by-side with Chebet, a kind of mano-a-mano showdown as the men reached Central Park. And then, just when it seemed that they would keep it up right to the finish line, Chebet simply ran away from his rival. Through 24 miles, they were running shoulder-to-shoulder. Now Chebet started to pull away. A 4:43 mile gave him a 4-second lead over Castro at 25 miles. The Kenyan sprinted into Central Park in front and stayed there, finishing in 2:09:14. Castro was not surprised. "The last K, I thought I could beat Chebet," Castro said. "But Chebet is a stronger athlete. When he pushed, I had some trouble. My legs were a little tired. I was trying to catch him but I was having problems with my legs. I was very tired. "In the park, I was pushing, pushing, pushing. But I couldn't catch Chebet." Still, the race pleased Castro. After losing a tough 5,000 meters to frontrunner Joseph Ngugi in the Seoul Olympics, he reinvented himself, moving from 10,000 and 5,000 meters to marathons. He won Paris in 1995 and Rotterdam in 1997, was sixth in New York in 1997 and eighth in the London Marathon in April. On Sunday, he ran near the front for most of the race before coming up short in the final miles. Then he waited at the finish line for a while. That's because his twin brother, Dionisio, was also running, finishing 33rd in 2:28:06.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
