He Wins Race Despite Loose Lace

NEW YORK —  Good luck convincing your kids to tie their shoelaces today.

With a steady rain falling and wind blowing, Kenya’s John Kagwe, his right shoelace untied and flapping against the Central Park pavement with every stride, won the New York City Marathon Sunday, prevailing in a race notable as much by the late fade of the favorites as by the lousy weather.

If Kagwe, 28, who ran 2 hours 8 minutes 12 seconds for the second-fastest finish in the race’s 28-year history, was a surprise even among the dominant Kenyans, then the women’s winner--Franziska Rochat-Moser, a Swiss restaurateur and lawyer--was an utter shock.

Rochat-Moser, 31, in her first appearance in New York, took the lead from favorite and two-time winner Tegla Loroupe of Kenya at the 22nd mile and ran through the park fighting cramps in her left hamstring to finish in 2:28:43.

“I told my husband that if I won New York, I’d give up my career,” Rochat-Moser said. “Now I do not know what I will do. The New York City Marathon was always a dream for me.”

Kagwe is one of a group of Kenyans who have catapulted to the top of distance running this year. He lives part of the year in Philadelphia and trains in Valley Forge Park, a hilly course much like Central Park. In 1995, he was fifth here and last year he was fourth. In May, he won the Prague Marathon in 2:09:07.

But his breakthrough came as his shoe became undone. He surely would have broken the course record--he missed by only 11 seconds--had he not had to stop twice in the first 10 miles to retie his right shoe.

Each time he stopped, he said, he lost about 30 meters on the leaders. That put even more distance between him and countryman Kenneth Cheruyot, who set a scorching pace until he dropped back at the 18th mile.

Miles four through 12 were all run under 4:53. Kagwe, who had to sprint to catch up after each lace fix-up, was not even consistently among the lead pack until the 17th mile.

After that, it was largely a three-way race with Kagwe, Kenya’s Joseph Chebet and Mexico’s German Silva, who has won here twice. Silva, a crowd favorite since taking a wrong turn en route to his first win in 1994, made his move at the 18th mile, running it in a staggering 4:39. and led briefly again at mile 20. But by then, he was spent and began to fall back.

In the last four miles, Kagwe let the laces go unfettered. He took the lead in the 23rd mile, as the course leaves Fifth Avenue and enters the hills of Central Park. He became the first male Kenyan to win here since 1990.

“I said forget it, if my shoe falls off, I keep running,” Kagwe said. “I trained so hard for this event. That is why I was so patient. I wanted to last until the last four miles. Then I decided to just break.”

Chebet was second in 2:09:37. Silva faded fast once in Central Park and was overtaken by Italy’s Stafano Baldini and Morocco’s Abdolkhader Mouaziz. Silva was fifth in 2:10:19 and collapsed at the finish line with severe cramps and dehydration.

In the women’s race, Loroupe took the lead at the 18th mile. Rochat-Moser held steady in third place, staying with Loroupe and South Africa’s Colleen de Reuck. But the surge exhausted Loroupe, who led until the 21st mile, then began to fall back.

Despite her sore hamstring, Rochat-Moser easily held off de Reuck, Franca Fiacconi and defending champion Anuta Catuna to become the first Swiss runner to win a major marathon. Like last year, Loroupe finished seventh.