2011 New York Marathon Results: Geoffrey Mutai Not the Only Racer To Impress

Today in New York, Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai won the New York City Marathon by posting a time of 2:05:06.

According to The New York Times, that's a new course record, breaking the mark of 2:07:43 set by Ethiopia's Tesfaye Jifar in 2001. Today's result is not the best of Mutai's career—he ran the 2011 Boston Marathon in 2:03:02—but you obviously have to tip your cap to him. 

But in case you're wondering, there were some who finished the 26.2-mile course in a faster time than Mutai.

Per a report from the Associated Press, Amanda McGrory finished the women's wheelchair race in 1:50:24. That is a new record for the women's wheelchair race, and McGrory's win is her third in a major marathon this year. The Illinois native also won the Paris and London Marathons, which were held just a week apart. Just last weekend, she finished second in a marathon in Japan.

McGrory's new course record wasn't the only first to be found in the wheelchair races. Masazumi Soejima became the first Japanese man to win the men's wheelchair race, finishing with a time of 1:31:41.

Soejima said after the race that winning was his plan all along. He claims he was inspired to race for children after natural disasters rocked Japan earlier this year, and he actually went so far as to make a promise that he would win the marathon.

“I made a promise with the children athletes in Oita that I was going to win the New York City Marathon,” he said. “I’m very happy that I kept that promise.”

Of course, it's not like Soejima's win in the New York Marathon is a huge upset. He won the Boston Marathon earlier this year as well.

Just as you have to tip your cap to Mutai, you have to tip your cap to McGrory and Soejima. Wheelchair racers have a tendency to be overlooked in major marathons, but victories like theirs deserve as much attention as they can get. 

This is especially true now in a time when we're seeing so many records falling in the sport of marathon racing. To give you an idea, Mutai's time of 2:03:02 in the Boston Marathon is actually the fastest marathon ever run, but it didn't count as a world record because Boston is a point-to-point course. He's going to set a new world record sooner or later and could even break the two-hour mark in the near future.

In the meantime, new records are going to continue to be set in the wheelchair races, too. To that end, don't be surprised if McGrory and Soejima are the ones doing the honors.