- HOT TOPICS:
- Cav' wins another •
- Astana fined •
- Fabian's yellow bike
Armstrong makes his goal, breaks three hours at N.Y. marathon
- Article Extras
- Photos
New York (AFP) - Lance Armstrong is not used to coming second, let alone 856th, but after completing his first New York Marathon Sunday, the cycling legend said the foot race was the toughest physical challenge he'd ever faced.
The seven-time Tour de France champion finished just seconds shy of the three hours he had set himself, crossing the finishing line in the city's Central Park in 2:59:36, some 49 minutes behind winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil.
"That was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I've ever done," an exhausted Armstrong said after pounding the pavements with some 38,000 other runners.
"In 20 years of pro sports, endurance sports, from triathlons to cycling, all the Tours, even the worst days in the Tours, nothing was as hard as that, and nothing left me feeling the way I feel now in terms of just sheer fatigue and soreness."
The champion said ahead of the race he had no illusions about being able to lead the field when he decided to enter the marathon, swapping his bicycle for a pair of running shoes and the mountains of France for the streets of Manhattan to raise money for cancer charities.
The 35-year-old, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and went on to beat it and then rewrite the record book for the world's premier cycling race, took along three veteran running greats to help him complete the race -- his debut at the distance.
Armstrong retired from cycling last year but still risked distracting attention from the marathon, with a dedicated television camera - dubbed the Lance-cam - covering the cyclist throughout the race.
Asked if he would consider racing at the distance again, he was equivocal.
"The answer right now is ‘no,’” he said. “I'll never be back, but I reserve the right to change my mind in a month."
Despite breaking his personal three hour barrier, Armstrong said missing the goal would not have mattered to him at the end.
"I wanted to break three hours, but if you told me, you know, with three miles to go, you're going to do 3:05, I didn't care. I wouldn't have cared," he added.
Wearing a green top, rather than the leader's yellow jersey he was accustomed to wearing during the Tour, Armstrong smiled and waved to supporters lining the streets in the early stages of the route, but started showing the strain from the 20-mile mark.
He was flanked by retired distance legends Alberto Salazar, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Hicham El Guerrouj, taken on as pace setters to help him make the distance.
More used to cycling a three-week race over some 3500 kilometers (2200 miles), Armstrong said in training he had only managed to run around 16 miles- more than 10 miles short of the 26.2 mile finish line.
Armstrong observed the 10th anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer on October 2 and ran as number 1002 -- signifying 10/2.
Injuries nagged him during training, with painful shin splints limiting the former triathlete's ability to prepare for the race.
But Armstrong received help from Kristin Richards, his former wife who began marathons after their 2003 divorce. While she was not running in New York on Sunday, Richards raced at last year's Chicago marathon and this year's Boston marathon.
Photo Gallery
Most Recent Articles
- Astana fined for late sign-in before stage 3
- Cav' crushes in stage 3 as late break astonishes field
- Kelly's Bell and Evelyn Stevens grab overall titles at Fitchburg
- Napolitano and Lancaster trade accusations over stage 2 finish
- Jurgen Van der Walle is first rider to drop out of the 2009 Tour
- Boonen did not contest the stage 2 sprint. Where was he?
- Farrar impresses with his second place
- Skipping Giro was right call for Hesjedal
