The London 2012 Paralympic bronze winner Kurt Fearnley separated from the leading group and took the first place of The Mall event. It was a very tough struggle for the first place, but Australian managed to get ahead of his main competitors Marcel Hug from Switzerland and Ernst Van Dyk from South Africa, who finished on second and third places respectively. David Weir, from a six-time champion from Great Britain finished only fifth. It is interesting that he was just 2 seconds behind Fearnley’s performance (1:31:29).
Fearnley was glad to win The Mall event for the second time in his career. He, yet has the unbeaten record of the course, which he set during his previous victory in 2009. This year’s event had all the top players, so it was important and hard for him to take the first place. The race was tough since the very beginning, when the leading pack of 8 players was formed. The pack was led by Fearnley, Van Dyk (the 9-time Boston winner), Hug (who has the Paralympic silver medal of London) and London Olympic Games victor Heinz Frei.
The Mall event gathers a lot of fan not only from London. Most of them were cheering for David Weir, who was pursuing the goal of taking the 7th victory in London. Weir could have become the most successful London Marathon wheelchair athlete if he would have won. It all came to the finishing tactics and everyone thought that sprint finish Weir is famous for will give him the advantage. But Fearnley and Hug were ready for that. They pulled away and chose the victor just between two of them. Alongside with the 5th place in Boston, and London’s win, Fearnley had enough points to win the history-making Boston-London Wheelchair Challenge.
The post London 2012 Paralympic Bronze Winner Kurt Fearnley Won the The Mall Event appeared first on Todays Sports Fan.
