CARCOAR wheelchair champion Kurt Fearnley has won a record fourth straight New York marathon in spectacular fashion early yesterday morning, making history in the process as the most prolific wheelchair athlete in the history of the race.
Fearnley edged South African veteran Krige Schabort in a photo finish, with both racers stopping the clock in 1 hour 35 minutes 58 seconds.
Rising star Marcel Hug of Switzerland out-sprinted a pack of athletes to finish third, more than four minutes behind the lead two.
An exhausted Fearnley was overjoyed with the result.
“I couldn’t be happier” Fearnley said.
“That was one of the hardest races I have ever pushed and to finish in front is amazing.”
It was a two-man race from early on with Fearnley and Schabort clearing from the pack in the first five kilometres, and just as Fearnley promised tactics took a back seat to raw power and simply trying to obliterate the field.
By the half-way mark the pair had built up a lead of more than two minutes and continued to pull away as the race progressed.
Nothing could split the duo as they entered Central Park steaming towards the finish line.
With fifty metres to go the athletes pulled side-by-side before Fearnley surged to snatch the win by the narrowest of margins, showing that even on the rare occasions another athlete can match him over the marathon distance, he still has the desire and the finishing kick to hold them off.
“I can’t believe it came down to the last metre,” Fearnley said.
“I attacked more than a dozen times during the race and tried to get a bit of a lead, but I couldn’t break him down.
“We’ve both had success here before and know the course well, and it’s as if Krige knew when I’d attack and vice versa when he had a go. With all the toing and froing we ended up nullifying each other and not even the clock could split us.
“To finish a race like that as the winner is incredibly satisfying and it’s a great way to round out the year.”
With his win in New York, he earned the honour of ringing the bell to open trading at the New York Stock Exchange today, while he will also have the distinction of being introduced to the crowd at Madison Square Garden at half-time during the New York Knicks next home game.
They are all rewards that he has become accustomed to given his success in recent years.
Fearnley finished 2009 unbeaten, with six marathon wins from six starts – from Seoul, Paris and London, to Sydney, Chicago and New York.
Despite rounding out his racing year, Fearnley now faces his biggest challenge of 2009 and perhaps his life, by crawling Papua New Guinea’s Kokoda Track.
Joined by a group of 15 family members and friends, Fearnley will tackle the 96km track from next Sunday, a journey he will complete to raise awareness of men’s health issues and in support of the charity initiative Movember.
“There will be 16 of us there, all sporting big moustaches for men’s health,” he said after his New York effort.
“One way or the other it will be an amazing 12 days.”
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