Brazilian Wins NYC Marathon

In what was a very strange race, an unknown runner takes the win in the Big Apple

November 5, 2006

The 2006 ING NYC Marathon men's race was full of surprises. Why didn't the pacers go through the halfway point in 1:04, as they were supposed to? Why didn't the big assemblage of super talent take advantage of the perfect weather to blitz the 5-borough course? Why did so many runners have stomach problems? And, by the way, who the heck is Marilson Gomes dos Santos?

The answer to the last and most important question is this: He's the winner of the 2006 New York City Marathon, a 29-yr old Brazilian and friend of Vanderlei de Lima (of Athens Olympic fame, where he won the silver medal after being attacked on the course), a 13:19 5000-meter runner, and a guy who's not easily intimidated. "To win the marathon, you must have courage," dos Santos said after his 2:09:58 victory. "You must be prepared to go to the front and try to be the winner."

When dos Santos made his move at 19 miles, breaking from a gaggle of about 10 Kenyans, he enjoyed a certain anonymity. "To be honest, I didn't know who he was," said third-place finisher Paul Tergat, the marathon world record holder and defending champion. "I thought we could let him go, because he would come back to us later. I didn't know then that he had run a 2:08 at Chicago."

Yes, dos Santos ran 2:08:48 two years ago at Chicago for sixth place. But he has also been the two-time winner of the famed San Silvestre midnight race in Brazil, where he has twice beaten Robert Cheruiyot, this year's top marathoner, with wins at both Boston and Chicago. And he came to New York intent on making a bid for the win. "My plan was to make a break if I felt good, and I was feeling good at 19 miles," he said. "The rest of the way, I kept looking back over my shoulder to see if I was maintaining my lead, and to be sure I had something in reserve if I needed it at the end."

He didn't. While Stephen Kiogora and Tergat were closing over the last several miles, dos Santos never faltered and never gave them an opening. "It was my first time at New York, and I thought I should be careful about the way I ran," said Kiogora, 31, who's best time is the 2:09:41 he ran two years ago in Chicago. "I was just hanging in there. I came here to learn, not to run for time."

Tergat, who hadn't run a race of any kind for 6 months, eventually figured that he'd better take dos Santos seriously. But it was too late. "I thought one of the runners would make a push to narrow his lead, but it was like someone put a big blanket over us and we were sleeping," he said. While Dos Santos's lead reached its biggest margin-about 38 seconds-at 22 miles, he still had a safe enough gap of 8 seconds at the end. "I was surprised they didn't go with me when I made my surge," he said, "but I had something left at the end if I needed it."

For his victory dos Santos received the top prize money of $125,000. Kiogora collected $65,000 and Tergat $40,000. The winning time was in the same range of recent New York City wins-2:09:29, Ramaala 05; 2:09:30, Tergat 06-and New York remains a race known for its worldwide Big Apple tour more than for fast times.