Transcript:
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Chicago Marathon is known to be a fast race. The course is pretty flat. There’s not a lot of elevation to slow the pace, and October in Chicago is generally nice and cool, as many runners prefer. But it has never been this fast.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Here is going to be our champion, Ruth Chepng’etich. What a beautiful run to have watched.
SUMMERS: Kenyan runner Ruth Chepng’etich smashed the women’s marathon world record yesterday in Chicago by nearly two minutes. She finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds. That’s under five minutes per mile for 26.2 miles. Only two American men went faster yesterday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RUTH CHEPNG’ETICH: I feel so great. I’m proud of myself, and I’ve done good.
SUMMERS: She was left off the Kenyan Olympic Team this summer after she didn’t perform as well at the London Marathon this spring. But clearly Chepng’etich, who is self-coached, managed to regroup for Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHEPNG’ETICH: I can say I was smart prepared. I prepared well since London. It’s like six – four months or three months. Yeah. And I was well prepared.
SUMMERS: Now, she’s won Chicago twice before, but yesterday, she took over four minutes off her personal best marathon time. She told NBC Chicago, which broadcasts the race on TV, that she considers the city like a home now.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHEPNG’ETICH: I’m proud of Chicago. Fans – they are motivating, shouting. That’s making me push so hard.
SUMMERS: After the race, she dedicated the victory to Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash this February. Just months earlier, Kiptum had broken the men’s world record at the Chicago Marathon last year. Now he and Chepng’etich have both claimed world records for Kenya.
(SOUNDBITE OF ATMOSPHERE SONG, “OKAY”)