World best time in men’s marathon

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 48

World best time in men’s marathon

NZPA-AFP Illionis Steve Jones strode home to an historic and unexpected victory in the Chicago marathon yesterday and, after setting a new world best time for the event, declared that he was more surprised than anybody by his success. The 29-year-old Welshman, ignoring the difficult rain and windy conditions, clocked 2h Bmin 5s — eight seconds better than the previous best world time set by Alberto Salazar, of the United States in the New York Marathon in October 1981. Jones, who comes from Barry and who is a corporal in the Royal Air Force, said his plan had been simply to stick as closely as possible to the top names, but after 29km he had felt it was “time to make a move”. He spurted clear and, to. his astonishment, nobody went with him. “Those last two miles really hurt,” confessed

Jones, whose victory earned him $U535,000 of the $U5250,000 prize money. Jones is also expected to receive a bonus cheque for an additional SUSSO,OOO for notching up a world best time. “I intend to stick to running one marathon each year and this is the one I intend to compete in next year,” said Jones, whose only previous marathon experience was gained in Chicago last year when he was forced to quit the annual event at the halfway stage. The 1984 Olympic Games champion, Carlos Lopes, of Portugal, finished in second place just over one minute behind Jones. Rob de Castella, of Australia, was third. The women’s event was won by Los Angeles Olympic bronze medallist,Rosa Mota, of Portugal. Mota, aged 26, finished in a time of 2:26.1 to score her fourth marathon win in six races. Lisa Martin of Australia was second and In-

grid Kristiansen, of Norway, third. Glenys Quick, of New Zealand, was a respectable sixth. Results:— MEN Steve Jones (Wales) 2h Bmin 5s (best world performance), 1; Carlos Lopes (Portugal), 2:9.6, 2; Rob de Castella (Australia), 2:9.9, 3; Gabriel Kamau (Kenya), 2:10.5, 4; Geoff Smith (Britain), 2:10.8, 5; Martin Pitayo (Mexico), 2:10.29, 6; Jerry Kiernan (Ireland),. 2:12.24, 7; Kjell-Eric Stahl (Sweden), 2:14.16, 8; Agapius Masong (Tanzania), 2:14.23, 9; Cor Lambrechts (the Netherlands), 2:14.46, 10. WOMEN Rosa Mota (Portugal), 2:26.1, l;Lisa Martin (Australia), 2:27.4, 2;lngrid Kristiansen (Norway), 2:30.21, 3;Dorthe Rasmunssen (Denmark), 2:30.42, 4;Lisa Larsen (USA), 2:31.31, s;Glenys Quick (New Zealand), 2:32.53, 6; Regina Joyce (Ireland), 2:35.5, 7; Jackie Gareau (Canada), 2: 35.33, 8; Rita Borrhalo (Portugal), 2: 35.43, 9; Magda Hands (Belgium), 2: 36.4, 10