Tahiti’s Tutea Degage was not expecting he was going to make it under such condition he is not used to.
“In Tahiti, it’s cool and the humidity is not like this. It is very hot here and I’m not used to it,” he said in an interview in the afternoon of that day.
Right before run started Degage and the rest of the participants noticed the high humidity as if the cloud has gone so low, and they expected that as soon as sun goes up it will be “brutally hot.”
“When I sensed it was hot, I said to my self” ‘It’s not the place and it’s not the time to do the marathon and break my record,” Degage said, adding the he was “really surprised with humidity and temperature.”
Little did he know that many yards ahead of him, Australia’s Brendan Whelan who was leading big was suffering the same predicament, perhaps getting the worse from it.
“The humidity was too much. It really was. I started off and I got good. I coped with it last time, and today is the worst that I have experienced,” Whelan said.
Whelan started well as went to a big lead ahead of Degage and compatriot, Teiva Izal.
“I felt really good at 10 kilometer,” Whelan said adding that as he went ahead, his body began to react to loss of salt.
“After that my thighs are cramping up and my legs are starting to cease,” says Whelan who had his four bottles of water, started up slower and picked up a bit as he felt comfortable at 10 kilometer.
Whelan explained that when the humidity is high you will be sweating a lot more and spending a lot of more salt, then you body’s going to cramp.
“It exactly happened to me. I was expecting to win. I got halfway I felt good, my legs just gave in,” he said.
Also surviving the high humidity and heat, there came Degage and Izal approaching from behind.
At the point, Brendan began to feel less than 100 percent.
Degage and Izal reeled in and gradually pushed away to put up a significant lead.
Then, Degage took command and went ahead of Whelan and his compatriot.
Degage who won the early morning event knew everybody struggled to survive the heat and humidity so “everybody won. I won, the second placer won, the last one won. And I congratulate all runners for enduring such a very hot condition.”
Degage won first finishing the run in one hour, 17 minutes and 38.67 seconds. His compatriot, Izal came next running one hour, 19 minutes and 58.75 seconds.
Whelan, giving in to humidity came third as he went one hour, 24 minutes and 27.83 seconds, followed by NMI’s Roland Villafria who finished it in one and a half hour and 38.53 seconds.
In Women’s division however, Marie Benito of Guam seemed to have handled the conditions a little better than most of them.
She came to lead the run finishing it in one hour, 35 minutes and 20.83 seconds.
NMI’s Mieko Carey came next to her in one hour, 39 and 32.28 seconds and Mamiko Oshima in one hour, 42 minutes and 26.67 seconds.
