The tale of two Sunday queens - By Shailendra Awasthi | TNN
Posted on - 21 Jan 2013
The tale of two Sunday queens
Shailendra Awasthi | TNN
Mumbai: The two females who ruled two super races in Mumbai on Sunday have a lot in common,other than the track,the distance,their weights and the prize money they won, that is.Kenyan Valentine Kipketer,40 kgs,scorched the concrete surface while winning the womens marathon in the morning while Maple Star,a 464kg filly (female horse),claimed the Ladies Derby on the grass tracks of the Mahalaxmi racecourse in the evening.
While Kipketer won the grueling 42.195 kilometres marathon in a course record timing of 2 hours and 24 minutes and 33 seconds,Maple Star won the 2400 metres (one-and-halfmile ) distance in 2 minutes and 32.43 seconds. Kipketer got a prize money of Rs 21,50,776,Maple Star ran away with the prize money of Rs 48,38,000!
Both,the two-legged and four legged stars,interestingly,had a similar approach to their races: both ran their final workouts last Thursday. While Kipketer ran her last practice run in Kenya before she flew to India,Maple Star did it at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on the same day.Both had a light practice on Saturday though.
The race day also began for both of them in a similar way.I just had a coffee and bread in the morning, Kipketer informed TOI on Sunday.She just had a light feed today, Maple Stars trainer Karthik G pointed out.
Even the race strategy appeared similar for both of them.While Kipketer drew away from the files to hit the front at 28 kilometers,Maple Star too went into the lead just after the half-way mark,about 900 metres from the winning post.Both of them won very comfortably. I will have a light massage and normal meal full of carbs in the evening today, Kipketer said. She will have a bath,a light massage and a full meal in evening, Karthik had said about Maple Star.
