By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
NOTE: Here is my original Race Results Weekly story from the 2001 Chicago Marathon –Ed.
CHICAGO (07-Oct-2001) — Two equally unexpected outcomes at today’s competition left both race organizers and the media wagging their heads in disbelief. Who would have imagined that that five-time world cross country champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist, Paul Tergat, would be relegated to second place by a young pacesetter who had never before broken 2:15 for the marathon? Who would have predicted that defending champion Catherine Ndereba could smash the one week-old world record of Naoko Takahashi by nearly a minute after running the first three miles of the race at a 2:30:00 pace?
Yet it all happened, much to the delight of executive race director Carey Pinkowski, who in the early moments of the competition saw his race in trouble. Designated pacemakers, Godfrey Kiprotich, Ben Kimondiu, Joseph Kariuki and Henry Tarus, bolted from the starting line, and by the 5 km mark had already established a sub-2:07:00 pace. Unfortunately, none of the race contenders followed them. The quartet of Kenyans built up their lead over the main field with each passing kilometer, to 16 seconds through 10-K and to 37 seconds by 15-K.
“I have no explanation as to what happened,” said Pinkowski of the pacemaking situation. “I thought our guys did a good job,” pointing out that they were running at the agreed upon 1:03:00+ first-half pace. But why didn’t the others follow them? “It appeared to me they had no interest in that,” Pinkowski offered.
“I didn’t know if we were going fast and were going to destroy ourselves,” Tergat later said of his decision to hold back.
Shouting instructions off of the press truck, Pinkowski sent Kiprotich and Tarus back to join the main field, which included Tergat, Ondoro Osoro, Peter Githuka, Noriaki Igarashi, Eder Moreno and Mohamed Ouaadi. But Kariuki and Kimondiu, trying to do what they had been contracted to do, kept pressing the pace. The television show began to look like a Saucony commercial, as the two Kenyans clad in their mixed blue Saucony kit sped through the streets of Chicago. As if to underscore Kimondiu’s lack of profile Frank Shorter, handling the commentating duties in the television studio, repeatedly misidentified him as either “Kahugu” or “Tarus.”
Kariuki and Kimondiu hit the half-way mark on schedule in 1:03:21, 49 seconds ahead of the Tergat group. Then, in one of the strangest scenes in recent road running memory, the two abruptly slowed their pace and began to jog, waiting for the race to catch them.
“You feel a bit relaxed, it is good,” Kimondiu would later say about this breather where he literally lost about half a minute.
Through 25 km (1:15:50) the race was back together, but like a ticking time bomb it was bound to explode soon. The slack pace continued for another kilometer when Kiprotich and Kimondiu, in an effort to get it going again, found themselves up the road ahead of the others. Githuka moved up to join them, but Tergat wasn’t reacting. After the little break quickly came back, Tergat launched his move. He spurted ahead with Kimondiu and Tarus and the trio passed through the 30 km point (1:30:36) with a 12 second lead.
“The pace was going up and down,” Tergat would later say, pointing out how tiring this was.
The pace was definitely up now. Tarus, having fulfilled his obligations through 30-K soon retired, leaving Tergat and Kimondiu alone at the front. Their lead grew steadily, hitting 35-K in 1:45:42 giving them a 23 second cushion over Ouaadi and Githuka, the only other athletes left in contention. Kimondiu, with his high arm carriage, sturdy build and only modest height, was the picture of contrast next to the tall, gangly Tergat. But he looked smooth and determined, constantly forcing the pace. He had made up his mind to go the distance.
“I said to myself I’m going to finish the race,” Kimondiu recounted. “When I started I had no idea of finishing.”
Tergat seemed to be perfectly positioned for victory. Surely this track star could overwhelm his rival with his superior leg speed, blowing by him in the last 400m for victory. Tergat tried to move on Kimondiu twice, but the Kamba tribesman who trains in Limuru answered him each time, continually forcing the pace. Coming into the finishing straight, Tergat looked flat-footed and Kimondiu simply pulled away. Waving his arms joyously like a windmill that was rotating first to the left and then to the right, he crossed the finish line first in 2:08:52, knocking some seven minutes off of his career best time and the wind out of Tergat’s sails. Tergat crossed four second later, holding off Githuka who had been gaining on the leaders.
“Actually it’s a great achievement,” said Kimondiu calmly evaluating his unlikely victory over one of the greatest runners of all-time. “I’ve never dreamed of beating him, but I dreamed of running a great race.”
NDEREBA DIGS DEEP
After their spirited duel in last year’s race, all eyes were on defending champion Catherine and runner-up Lornah Kiplagat. Their battle last year led to the fastest women’s marathon of the year, but as the 2001 race got underway, the pace was ordinary. They crossed the 5-K point in 17:41, barely below a 2:30:00 marathon pace. Any chance of a course or world record had seemingly evaporated, and the two-time Boston Marathon champion was alarmed.
“I did not notice where the first mile was,” she explained, “and the second one I didn’t see it. I said, oh my God, this is not the pace I want. I have to wake up and run my pace.”
She quickly jump-started the race, and began to lock in a 3:18 per km pace (5:18 per mile). Only Kiplagat and late entrant, Elfenesh Alemu of Ethiopia, could stay with her. They hit the 10-K in 34:10. Malgorzata Sobanska of Poland worked her way up to join them and the four athletes made 15-K in 50:40, a more-than-respectable 2:22:30 pace.
But fast wasn’t fast enough for Ndereba. She found another gear and lowered her pace to an impossible 3:10 per km (5:06 per mile). She was quickly alone in uncharted territory. She had some company from American Robert Johnson, but Ndereba stayed to the side of him out of the draft. Wearing black knitted gloves and a headband for warmth, she needed two hands to scoop up her slippery water bottles at the elite fluid stations because she was running so fast.
The kilometers rolled by and Ndereba continued to hold her pace. Despite the sluggish start, she was already running below Naoko Takahashi’s world record pace by the 27th kilometer. Her mind and body were locked in an epic battle with the clock.
“All what I’ve doing all those months,” she said. “All that sacrifice, all the hard training. Sometime it’s hard, but I have taught myself to run by myself. In my training I don’t rely on somebody I just rely on myself.
Running the last 10 kilometers in an eye-popping 32:35, she toppled Takahashi’s week-old record by nearly a minute. Holding her hands over her face, tears streaming down her cheeks, she was overwhelmed with emotion. Her strong religious faith clearly played a roll here.
“It had been my prayer and my dream,” she sobbed. “I thank Him and I worship Him. God is there for those who doesn’t have strength. If feel great. I’m overwhelmed.”
While Ndereba became the first athlete in history to win Boston and Chicago back to back in two consecutive years, Lornah Kiplagat was in deep trouble. Although she had recorded a time of 2:00:13 at the 35-K mark, she had already stopped more than once.
“She couldn’t breathe any more after 25-K and stopped a few times and tried again,” said Pieter Langerhorst, her companion and manager. “At 24 miles she had to drop out.”
After some confusion, Kiplagat made it into an ambulance and into Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she was diagnosed with a blood clot in her right lung. She will likely remain in the hospital for the remainder of the week, according to Langerhorst.
Top Results:
MEN (prize money doubled for Americans in top-10) –
- Ben Kimondiu KEN 2:08:52 PB $75,000+15,000i
[1:03:21 / 1:05:31] - Paul Tergat KEN 2:08:56 45,000+15,000i
- Peter Githuka KEN 2:09:00 35,000+10,000i
- Mohamed Ouaadi FRA 2:09:26 20,000+10,000i
- Noriaki Igarashi JPN 2:09:35 15,000+10,000i
- Rod DeHaven USA/WI 2:11:40 PB 20,000+ 3,000i
- Ondoro Osoro KEN 2:11:44 7,500+ 3,000i
- Shaun Creighton AUS 2:11:54 5,000+ 3,000i
- Mitsunori Hirayama JPN 2:12:25 3,000+ 2,000i
- Simon Mphulanyane RSA 2:12:44 2,000+ 2,000i
- Tomix da Costa BRA 2:12:50 2,000i
- Andrew Sambu TAN 2:13:04
WOMEN (prize money doubled for Americans in top-10) –
- Catherine Ndereba KEN 2:18:47*WR $75,000+100,000i#
[1:10:15 / 1:08:32] - Elfenesh Alemu ETH 2:24:54 45,000+15,000i
- Kerryn McCann AUS 2:26:04 35,000+10,000i
- Malgorzata Sobanska POL 2:26:08 20,000+10,000i
- Nives Curti ITA 2:28:59 PB 15,000+ 5,000i
- Kayoko Obata JPN 2:32:19 10,000
- Ichiyo Naganuma JPN 2:34:02 7,500
- Anne van Schuppen, 40 NED 2:41:51 5,000
- Karin Schön SWE 2:42:27 PB 3,000
- Kelly Keeler, 39 USA/MN 2:43:06 4,000
- Jennifer McNutt USA/TX 2:46:44
- Wendi Ray USA/WI 2:46:44
*World record; previous 2:19:46, Naoko Takahashi, Berlin, 30-Sep-2001; also course record; previous 2:21:21, Joah Benoit, 1985
#Also earned Volkswagon automobile for world record
+Training run in preparation for the NYC Marathon; Cordell was actually in