'Big mistake' allows Kenya's Muge to win men's race

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By Don Doxsie | Saturday, July 26, 2008 11:26 PM CDT | () comments

Maregu Zewdie seemingly knew only two words of English.

He sat on the ground in the elite runner’s tent after Saturday’s Quad-City Times Bix 7, staring a hole in the grass and shaking his head.

“Big mistake,” he said. “Big mistake.”

He looked up as someone patted him on the back and offered a few words of consolation that Zewdie likely

didn’t understand. Then he went back to studying the turf.

“Big mistake.”

Zewdie’s big mistake came with a few hundred meters to go in the 34th annual Bix 7. As he crossed under the skywalk overpass at the Davenport RiverCenter along Third Street, he thought he had won. He made a slash signal across his throat and slowed to a triumphant walk.

Big mistake. Kenya’s Edward Muge, who was only a few steps behind him, breezed past to win the $10,000 first prize.

Zewdie struggled to put into intelligible words what he was thinking.

“He was confused,” fellow Ethiopian runner Tekeste Kebede said. “He thought he had won. He said he was feeling good and he would have won if he had kept going.”

Race director Ed Froehlich said the Bix 7 course has not changed in 15 years and that runners need to do their homework before any race.

“It’s the runner’s responsibility to know the course,” he said.

Zewdie explained in Amharic through an interpreter that he looked at the course Friday, but hadn’t really noticed where the finish line was.

He said that once he stopped, he had no chance of catching Muge, who finished in a time of 32 minutes, 16 seconds. Zewdie took second in 32:25.

“I had already used my effort, and I couldn’t get back into the pattern,” Zewdie said. “After you’ve run for 32 minutes, it’s tough to get going again. I made a mistake.”

There is a chance Muge might have caught Zewdie in the final stretch anyway. Abel Kirui, who had a slight lead in the race until the last mile, thought his countryman was going to win when Muge and Zewdie both zoomed past him coming down the Brady Street hill.

“I know he’s always strong at the finish,’’ Kirui said of Muge. “I have trained with him in Kenya and I know. Because it was flat at the end, I knew he would finish strong.”

Muge said he also felt he had a chance to pass Zewdie in the final 50 meters although he conceded he wasn’t positive.

“I wasn’t sure I could win,’’ he said. “I was thinking maybe second or third.”

But he said there was no doubt in his mind where the finish line was.

“I know the finish because of the big letters,’’ he said.

“He toured the course (Friday) and we pointed out that there are two bridges that you go under,” Muge’s agent Scott Robinson said. “It’s very important to know the course.”

Muge isn’t exactly a complete unknown on the international racing scene. He won a few races in the U.S. in 2006 and won the Kenyan 10,000-meter championship earlier this year.

This isn’t even his first victory of the week. Last Sunday, he won the Magic Shoe 5,000 in Orange County, Calif., setting a course record in the process.

Kirui finished third, just 3 seconds behind Zewdie with defending champion Duncan Kibet taking fourth.

“This is my first race in the USA so third place is not bad,’’ Kirui said. “I’d say God is great.”

Don Doxsie can be contacted at (563) 383-2280 or ddoxsie@qctimes.com.