	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 6, 2011

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

RICHARD FINN: We welcome our one, two, and three finishers from what I think all of us will agree upon was just a fabulous race, exciting right to the finish, plenty of drama, and one and two surprises, I will say. We welcome from left to right, Mary Keitany in third place, next to her, Buzenesh Deba, our second-place finisher, and our champion, 2011 ING New York City Marathon champion, Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia. Just one or two quick facts here. The victory was by four seconds, a four-second margin, second-closest finish in New York City Marathon history and quite a lucrative one for Firehiwot who wins $130,000, plus a $50,000 time bonus for a $180,000 first-place check.
I'm going to ask each of the ladies to say a couple of words about today's race, how it turned out. There was certainly plenty of drama in today's race, and we'll open it up for questions. We'll start with Firehiwot.
FIREHIWOT DADO: I'm very happy. It was a very good race. It was a tough race, and I didn't expect this result. But I'm very happy to have won New York.
RICHARD FINN: Buzenesh, our local New Yorker, congratulations. Your comments about today's race.
BUZUNESH DEBA: I thank God that he gave me power, and thank you, New York Road Runners, and thank you the New York people, all of them. They supported me, they cheered me. I'm so happy. It was hard. It was a tough race, and I finished second place, so I'm so happy.
RICHARD FINN: Mary, maybe a little disappointment today, but you certainly did a heroic job in taking out the lead right from the start. Your thoughts today, Mary?
MARY KEITANY: Okay, for me, I'm happy to be in New York City the second time. Of course, I think at my first race I went out first, I wish I did a little bit, and when my colleagues caught me, so thank you to New York for welcoming me. I thank all of the organizers of this New York Marathon, and I say thank you very much.

Q. Mary, do you feel like in some ways you beat yourself by going out too fast? I know you congratulated them for getting first and second, but in many ways it seems like they didn't beat you, you beat yourself by going out too fast. Do you think in hindsight the opening first half was too fast at 67 minutes?
MARY KEITANY: Okay. For me when I was going fast, but at the end I was feeling a bit fatigue in my leg, and that's why I lose a little bit the last half. And that's why my colleagues caught me on the way.

Q. Did you ever think you were going to catch Mary when she had such a huge lead and how did that work as you came up?
FIREHIWOT DADO: Because she'd been running so fast from the very beginning I didn't imagine that we'd catch her. But when we did get closer and we saw her, I was very surprised and I was very happy that we were able to catch her.
BUZUNESH DEBA: She's a very fast runner, and she's very strong. But I know I have confidence if I catch her, and I'm training very hard. If I train for the course record, and I know my pace, and we catch her.
RICHARD FINN: And you caught her, is that what you said?
BUZUNESH DEBA: Yeah.

Q. At one point in the last 20 miles you had been dropped by Mary and by Ms. Dado. You have local knowledge of the course, and you ended up coming within four seconds of the win. So tell me about the last 10K of the race as you were racing and coming back to make it a very, very close margin, and just narrowly being beaten out after being dropped by the two other place setters in the race?
BUZUNESH DEBA: I had a cramp in the beginning, and even the last mile I had a cramp. Yeah, but I know the course, and I did good.
RICHARD FINN: Do you think you had an advantage both from the fans that might have been out there, and you having run so many times in New York, did that help at all toward the end of the race, especially in the park?
BUZUNESH DEBA: Yes, the people were cheering me, and that's good for me. I'm so happy when they're cheering me. And I know the course. I train it two times a week in Central Park, yeah.

Q. So even for the two winners, the second half of your race was still a lot slower than the first half. Do you think you were going the first half ahead of course record? Do you think the first half may have even been a little too fast for you?
FIREHIWOT DADO: Yes, the early pace was a bit too fast, so after that it was harder and we couldn't go as fast.
BUZUNESH DEBA: Yeah, the first half was fast, and the second one was a little slow. It has a lot of hills, and, yeah. It's not the first half was not too fast. In San Diego I ran 1:09:55, but this one was -- but I lost my confidence. In the beginning I had this cramp, because of that.

Q. How close to your apartment, how close to your house did you run today, and would you like to have more of the race in the Bronx?
BUZUNESH DEBA: Yes, I don't know my home to the course, how close, I don't know that. But I'm so happy in the Bronx. I felt much more confident when I was running in the Bronx, so if more of the course were in the Bronx, I'd be very happy.

Q. Do you know whether friends or neighbors are going to be out on the course? Did you think there were a lot of them there? Could you tell?
BUZUNESH DEBA: Yes, a lot of people. We have a lot of friends in the Bronx in my neighborhood, and they supported me. They called me. We are supporting you, cheering you, yeah.

Q. Mary, in your mind in hindsight was the pace, the early pace too fast, and it came back to haunt you or are you still convinced that it was the right decision and it was the correct call and they just managed to come up with a good race and beat you that way?
MARY KEITANY: For me it was okay at first because I was feeling -- my body was okay. But after that 5K, I felt fatigue in my leg, and that's why I slowed a bit.
RICHARD FINN: Was it the right leg?
MARY KEITANY: Yeah, it was the right leg.
RICHARD FINN: At what K? Where did that happen?
MARY KEITANY: I meant at 5K.

Q. Mary, the next time that you run in New York, will you try the same or different way to do it?
MARY KEITANY: Maybe I will come again next year.
RICHARD FINN: Will you run differently if you came back next year?
MARY KEITANY: Maybe if I come next year and my body will react okay, maybe no problem. I would run the same. I would not change.

Q. Mary, when the two other ladies caught you in the park, they passed you momentarily and then you stayed with them and you were running ahead of them again. Did you think at that point that you could still win? Were you worried at that point when they caught you?
MARY KEITANY: When I saw them passing me, I wanted to try to close the gap, but my leg was not allowing me to push.

Q. Mary, we know that you and your coach planned very meticulously or exactly. Did you plan to run faster than 2:20 today?
MARY KEITANY: Maybe I was trying, but I was not thinking.

Q. Firehiwot, what is your height, your weight, and your family? Do you have a husband, and children?
FIREHIWOT DADO: My weight is 46 kilograms, my height is 1 meter 61. I have a friend, but I don't have any children.

Q. I was wondering if you could give us a little more information about your background and how you came to the marathon? And you mentioned a cramp, Buzenesh. Where was the cramp?
BUZUNESH DEBA: I felt the cramps on both sides, on the right and on the left underneath my ribs.
FIREHIWOT DADO: I began running in school. As far as the marathon, I mostly began because of my coach, Haji, he was the one who encouraged me and pushed me to start the marathon. I had no intentions of doing that.

Q. You've won the Rome Marathon three times, Mumbai once; have you ever lost in a marathon or are those just the four major wins? Actually, she was fifth in Mumbai in 2010 in the marathon. My fault.
Did Worku (Beyi) give you any advice on the course today or did you see him on the course at all?
BUZUNESH DEBA: I didn't see him on the course, but he gave me advice what time to run. He gave me the pace.
RICHARD FINN: We thank you and congratulate our 1, 2, and 3 finishers of the women.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297