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| Wire 82, Sept. 1, 2002 | |
In this Edition of the Running USA Wire Copyright © 2002 Running Running USA All Rights Reserved Upcoming Events
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SPIRITS SOARED AT THE ROCK 'N'
ROLL HALF MARATHON VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, - (September 1, 2002) - World half-marathon record holder Paul Tergat of Kenya took control of the 2nd Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon with a 4:32 12th mile as the race course turned onto the hotel-lined Virginia Beach boardwalk for the final stretch home. His surge broke him free from his final four Kenyan challengers and sealed his first win ever on American soil. With fists clenched, he hit the tape in 61:59, eight seconds up on James Koskei in second. While well off his own 59:17 world record, the 33-year-old Kenyan superstar did break the event's first year course standard by twenty seconds. "It was very important to win this race," said Tergat afterwards. "Now I know what I need to adjust in my training (for the Chicago Marathon in six weeks), if I need to up it a little or slow some." The elite men and over 11,000 fellow starters began
fifteen minutes after the elite women and followed the consistent lead
of pacesetter, Moses Kemboi, who was tasked with a 4:40 per mile average.
Nine men remained cabled together as they hit 10K right on target at 29:06.
Then at 8 miles, Tergat made a testing move to the front, before drifting
back into the group to await the next challenge. At 10 miles last year's
runner up John Gwako struck and Tergat quickly answered. Also on the move
were hot road racer James Koskei, along "When we came toward the beach I wanted to try my best to pull away," explained Tergat of his winning move. "The course was very good, very flat, and the field was very strong. I did not know who would win until the last two or three miles. Everyone was in good shape." Gwako's bold move for victory faded suddenly at 11 miles beneath Tergat's pressure and the effects of a strained hamstring. He failed to even finish. James Koskei, a five-time winner on the American road circuit this year, took the $7,000 second prize in his first attempt at the 13.1-mile distance. Kenyan runners took the top nine places with Marco Gielen of the Netherlands in 10th breaking the full Kenyan sweep. Tergat, the five-time world cross country and two-time world half-marathon champion, had only raced twice before in America, taking the silver medal at the 1996 Olympic 10,000 meters in Atlanta and second again at last year's Chicago Marathon. This year he became the second fastest marathoner of all-time with his 2:05:48 runner up position at the London Marathon in April. The 15 elite women began their journey fifteen minutes before the men and were still shaking off raindrops after the skies opened in a torrential downpour just minutes before their start. Fortunately, the rain stopped as fast as it had come, leaving the women with nothing more than 20 rock bands and 14 cheer squads between them and the finish line 13.1 miles away. Perhaps because of the threatening weather, the women
began conservatively with defending champion Deena Drossin of Mammoth
Lakes, Calif. and veteran American road racer Sylvia Mosqueda of Los Angeles
leading the pack through opening miles of 5:31, 5:32 and 5:37. As the
women reached the 10K mark, 13 of the 15 remained tightly bunched, content
to let the miles and rock bands "The pace felt comfortable for the first 10K," said Fernandez after her 70:21 win. "This is my fastest time ever for the half-marathon, so I am very happy." Fernandez, who is currently prepping for the September
29th Berlin Marathon, applied unrelenting pressure to the field in the
second 10K, ripping off a flurry of sub-5:10 miles from 7 to 12. With
each mile her lead grew as the race became one for second place. In the
distance, Russia's Tatyana Khmeleva and Kenyans Margaret Atodonyang and
Pamela Chepchumba took up the fight for All alone through a second 10K of 32:07, Fernandez
crossed the finish with a seven-second personal best to go along with
her 15:24 national Mexican record for 5000 meters last weekend at altitude
back home. Khmeleva won the battle for second, but arrived at the finish
over one minute behind Fernandez. Romania's Nuta Olaru came on strong
for third, with Atodonyang in fourth, and 2nd Annual Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon MEN WOMEN For results and more, visit the race website: http://www.RnRHalf.com Return to top Return to main page Contact: Leanne Barkus, (810) 235-3396 Crim Controversy Settled Both Leghzaoui and her agent found this penalty to be acceptable. Makke stated that while Ar-Ar's intentions may have been honorable, his actions did violate USATF rules, and this sanction seemed reasonable. Asmae did ask, however, that the withheld prize money be donated to Michigan Special Olympics. As bad as she was feeling that morning, Leghzaoui stated, "When I saw the handicapped people [in the race], I say I run for them. I will do everything I can to support races such as the Crim." When asked to comment, Race Director Sherlynn Everly
had this to say: "I've certainly learned a lot about the USATF rules
and will be looking at doing some things differently next year. We've
always been lucky to have the race documented by Jim Gaver and his WFUM
camera crew. Throughout the long history of the Crim, the strong spirit
of good sportsmanship and fair play has always taken care of any incident.
However, before next year's race, we will have in place a Referee, a Jury
of Appeals and will hold a technical meeting with the |
| Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services USATF Road Running Information Center 5522 Camino Cerralvo Santa Barbara, CA 93111 (805) 696-6232, fax (805) 696-6252 |