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NEW YORK (15-Mar) -- Successfully fighting off both world class competitors and near-freezing temperatures, Kenya's Hellen Obiri and South Africa's Adriaan Wildschutt won the elite divisions of the 19th United New York City Half this morning.  Obiri, 36, and Wildschutt, 27, covered the 21.1-kilometer course from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan in 1:06:33 and 59:30, respectively.  Obiri's time was a new event record, and this was the second time that she won the race.  Wildschutt became the event's first South African winner, and he is now just the third South African man to cross a finish line first in Central Park joining TCS New York City Marathon winners Hendrick Ramaala (2004) and Willie Mtolo (1992). ELITE WOMEN HIT THE PACE HARD Even with all of the advances in training women distance runners, a 4:47 first mile is shockingly fast for a half-marathon.  That was the split recorded by reigning World Athletics cross country champion Agnes Ngetich of Kenya, who was taking on this race for the fist time.  Only four other women --Obiri, her Kenyan compatriot Sharon Lokedi, Ethiopian Fentaye Belayneh, and Dutchwoman Diane Van Es-- were brave enough to stay close to Ngetich.  She split 5K in 15:15, and Van Es was forced to drop back. The leading four stayed together on the ascent of the Brooklyn Bridge which crosses the East River, but on the downslope into Manhattan (about 8K), Ngetich upped the pace.  Obiri stayed locked on Ngetich, but Lokedi and Belayneh drifted back.  Lokedi, the race's defending champion, took stock of the situation.  She wanted to close the gap on the two leaders, but it was already too big. "It started out quick, too-too quick," a shivering Lokedi told reporters after the race.  She continued: "I tried a little bit, but it wasn't working out.  I was like, at this point I just go with my own pace." Ngetich, with Obiri nearly touching her heels, went through 10K in a sizzling 30:50.  That put the Kenyan duo on pace for a 65-minute finish.  But as Lokedi pointed out, the pace was too fast.  Running north on the FDR Drive in Manhattan along the East River, Ngetich suddenly slowed.  On the race's local broadcast it seemed as though she had vanished.  In fact, she was just too cold. "Agnes suffered from hypothermia," said her manager Davor Savija in a text message to Race Results Weekly.  "Not sure why she opted to run without a beanie, arm warmers or gloves." By the 15-K point on East 42nd Street in Manhattan, Obiri had a 30-second lead on Ngetich, who now had to turn her attention to the three women who were close behind her: Lokedi, Belayneh, and Scotland's Megan Keith.  That trio was only six seconds back.  Keith, who was running her first half-marathon, felt good.  She had ignored the super-fast early pace and stayed with her race plan. "I normally take quite a lot of risks in my racing, but I'm only used to racing between a mile and a 10-K on the track or cross country," Keith told Race Results Weekly.  "So I'm new to the roads, and then very new to the half-marathon.  So me and my team decided that I had to be sensible." Meanwhile, Obiri continued to pound away.  The two-time TCS New York City Marathon winner ran through Times Square alone, and up Seventh Avenue to Central Park.  The three-time world champion had a 39-second lead by the 20K point and only gave away two seconds to her rivals at the finish.  Her time of 1:06:33 took 31 seconds off of Lokedi's event record from last year.  She will be running the London Marathon on April 26. "For me it was an incredible moment," said Obiri when asked about the point on the FDR Drive where she pulled away from Ngetich.  "I told myself just to be patient and run my own race because I know the ladies are so strong." Obiri, who is a member of the On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colo., has now claimed four victories in New York City.  In addition to winning the TCS New York City Marathon in 2023 and 2025 she has now won the half-marathon twice (2023 and 2026), and the Mastercard New York Mini 10K (2025).  She said she loves racing here. "New York, it's been my second home," she said. Lokedi, who is training to defend her Boston Marathon title, worked with Keith in the second half of the race.  They caught the struggling Ngetich just past 15K (47:27) and were still together in the Park at 20-K (1:03:41).  Lokedi was able to get away from her British rival in the park to finish second in 1:07:10 (still faster than her event record), and Keith finished just three seconds behind (1:07:13).  van Es held on to take fourth (1:08:21) in a sprint against Belayneh, who finished one second behind her.  Sixth place went to USA marathon record-holder Emily Sisson who, like Lokedi, incorporated this race into her Boston Marathon build-up. "I just came down from altitude like three or four days ago," said Sisson, who now resides in Ireland but still does her high altitude work in Flagstaff, Arizona.  "I honestly needed that.  I felt really strong, but I think that this will really bring me on, which is good.  I'm going to freshen up the next four weeks at sea level." Ngetich finished 13th in 1:10:25 and required medical attention.  "She was treated in the medical tent and has bounced back after 30 minutes or so," her manager reported.  "Massive headache and closing of the chest followed by some vomiting.  She is physically OK now." In all, five USA women finished in the top-10.  Amanda Vestri was seventh in 1:09:22, Annie Frisbie eighth in 1:09:25, Susanna Sullivan ninth in 1:09:38 and Emily Venters tenth in 1:09:46. WILDSCHUTT SURGES TO VICTORY The men's race played out very differently.  Like the women, they were running fast, early (13:57 at 5-K and 27:56 at 10K), but the lead pack was still 14-strong at 15-K (42:24).  There were a number of small surges by Ireland's Peter Lynch, Kenya's Patrick Kiprop, and America's Zouhair Talbi, but nothing stuck. That is until about the 10-mile (16K) mark on East 42nd Street in front of Grand Central Terminal.  Lynch went to the front again and the pack began to break up.  Grant Fisher, who was making his road racing and half-marathon debut, fell off the pace (he would finish 14th in 1:00:53).  Wildschutt saw his chance. "I talked to my coach yesterday, Jack Mullaney, and he was like if you want to win the race... you have to have the best last 5-K," Wildschutt said.  "I was biding my time and waiting... to make a big move and just see what was happening.  So, I was able to separate myself from the pack and just keep pushing the pace." Wildschutt's move stuck.  He made the left turn into Central Park with an 11-second lead on Talbi, and that lead held all the way to the finish.  His time was 13 seconds off of his personal best, but considering the difficulty of the New York course and the very cold weather, it was probably his best-ever half-marathon.  He also liked following in Ramaala's footsteps; the now 54 year-old won the New York City Marathon in 2004. "First time running in New York, and coming into Central Park I was so happy; it was beautiful," Wildschutt told reporters.  He continued: "I was glad that, even years after the fact (when Ramaala won), I was able to put a good performance on." Talbi, who was active and near the front the entire race, took second in 59:41, his first sub-60:00 half-marathon.  Shockingly, third place went to India's Gulveer Singh, who ran 59:42 in his debut.  The 27 year-old, who became the first Indian man to break sixty minutes for a half-marathon, said that he would be returning to the track to focus on the Commonwealth Games this summer.  Singh, who is coached by Scott Simmons of the American Distance Project in Colorado Springs, planned to run both the 5000m and 10,000m. As for Fisher, the two-time Olympic bronze medalist was disappointed despite running the third-fastest debut in race history behind only Olympic medalists Mo Farah of Great Britain (1:00:23, 2011) and Galen Rupp of the United States (1:00:30, 2011).  Fisher said the fast downhills early in the race beat up his legs, and when the race broke up around the 10-mile mark he just had nothing left. "That was hard, really, really hard," said Fisher.  "I was hoping my legs would be a little more resilient out there, but I think I wasn't quite prepared for the pounding of the hills.  The guys really surged on some of those downhills, and it beat-up my legs.  By the time we got into Manhattan my legs were really tired."  He added: "I think I ran decently well, but those last few miles I was hurting coming home." Alex Maier (59:51), Peter Lynch (59:52), and Patrick Dever (59:56) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.  The three men are training partners in the Puma Elite Running group in North Carolina. Defending champion Abel Kipchumba of Kenya was unable to finish.  His last split was 43:43 at 15K. ROMANCHUK AND RAINBOW-COOPER ROLL AWAY WITH WHEELCHAIR TITLES The wheelchair races were not close.  On the men's side Daniel Romanchuk built up a 47-second lead over his nearest rival by the 10K mark, and that margin ballooned to two minutes and 12 seconds by the finish.  Romanchuk, who was competing in his first race since enduring a bad crash at the Sydney Marathon last August, was clocked in 48:10. "I really wasn't sure six months ago whether I would ever be on a starting line again," said Romanchuk, who dislocated and fractured his right shoulder in the crash.  He added: "Thankful to God for the opportunity to race again." Rainbow-Cooper, a Scotswoman who took second at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this month, won by a massive six-minute margin over American Paralympic legend Tatyana McFadden.  She was clocked in 54:27. "It's amazing to me," said Rainbow-Cooper, who will race at both the Boston and London Marathons later this month.  She continued: "Going into the Boston and London I just want to carry my momentum." AMERICA'S LARGEST HALF-MARATHON Race founders and organizers New York Road Runners expected about 30,000 finishers today (official finisher counts were not yet available).  Last year's edition saw 28,677 runners cross the finish line, which was a race record.  The race is now the largest half-marathon in the United States (for context, the world's largest half-marathon is Hoka Semi-Marathon de Paris which had 49,244 finishers on March 8 of this year). The next elite running event hosted by New York Road Runners will be the Mastercard New York Mini 10K on Saturday, June 6.  That event is the world's oldest road race for women, founded in 1972. PHOTO: Hellen Obiri of Kenya winning the 2026 United NYC Half in an event record 1:06:33 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. NEW YORK (12-Mar) -- On a cloudy and raw morning here with rain spitting down in Lower Manhattan, double-Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher addressed a clutch of reporters at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge where, on Sunday, he will have just passed the eight-kilometer mark of the United Airlines NYC Half, America's largest half-marathon with some 30,000 runners.  Fisher, 28, will be making his long-awaited half-marathon debut --and running his first-ever road race-- and he tried to put into words what would define a successful race for him. "That's a difficult question," said Fisher, who is the North American record holder for 10,000m (26:33.84).  "I'm chasing more of a feeling than a time or a place."  He added: "I'm the rookie now." Sunday's race, the 19th edition, features a superb professional field which boasts 26 Olympians and Paralympians.  Ten men --led by defending champion and event record holder, Abel Kipchumba of Kenya (58:07 PB)-- have broken 60 minutes for the half-marathon during their careers.  Likely to be up at the front with Fisher will be fellow American Alex Maier (59:23 PB), Canadian Rory Linkletter (59:49), Kenyan Daniel Ebenyo (59:04), Moroccan Mohammed El Youssfi (59:21), Norwegian Sondre Nordstad Moen (59:48), and South African Adriaan Wildschutt (59:13). But unlike most of the world's top-quality half-marathons, there will be no pacemakers shepherding the leaders from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan.  Like the TCS New York City Marathon, the course is decidedly hard with a series of hills in the first eight kilometers, followed by a flat(ish) section in the middle, and a final five kilometers which is nearly all uphill.  That's fine with Fisher, who sees Sunday's race as both an important learning opportunity and a challenging competition. "One of the reasons I picked this race is because time doesn't matter," Fisher said.  "Technically, it's a record-ineligible course, so that wipes one thing from my mind.  I can just focus on racing.  I'm up against some of the best half-marathoners in the world, people who have way more experience than me."  He continued: "I'm here to learn.  I'm here to push myself.  I'm ultimately here to figure out if I have a future in this side of the sport." With no Olympic Games or World Athletics Championships this year, 2026 is a great year for athletes like Fisher to experiment, especially those from North America who don't have to worry about either this summer's Commonwealth Games or European Athletics Championships.  Fisher will have plenty of time to recover from the half-marathon before opening his track season which will include the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, in early July (where he will run the two-mile), and the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships here in New York at the end of the same month.  The extra miles he has put in at high altitude at his winter training base in Flagstaff, Arizona, will help him both on Sunday and later on the track. "There were a lot of things which stayed the same," Fisher said of his training under coach Mike Scannell.  "More volume is kind of the thing.  More mileage, longer workouts, focusing on fueling, racing on the roads, new footwear, so a lot of things to change and reconsider.  I feel like we've had some really good prep, so I'm excited and ready to go.  It feels real now." Although Fisher confined himself to competing exclusively on the track since wrapping up his NCAA career at Stanford in the spring of 2019, he was an excellent cross country runner during his collegiate career.  He took second at the NCAA Championships in 2018, and fifth in both 2017 and 2016.  He said he was prepared for the ups and downs of Sunday's race. "I've been at 7000 feet (2134m) of altitude so even the smallest hill feels pretty aggressive," Fisher explained.  "My hill workouts are longer.  I'm purposely having hilly routes on my easy runs where normally I try to find a flat, very simple run to do."  He continued: "The hills are all at the start and the end of this course.  They'll beat us up in the beginning.  Hopefully I can relax a bit in the middle when we're going up the east side of the island, then when we get in the park it's hilly again.  I'll watch how people are reacting and surging and base my moves off of that." The closest parallel for Fisher's move from the track to the roads is when Galen Rupp made his half-marathon debut at the NYC Half in 2010.  Like Fisher, he did an indoor track season and came in with a fast 10,000m personal best (27:10.74 at that time).  Although he fell in the early stages of the race and banged his hip, the then 24 year-old ran 1:00:30 and finished third (the course was different then with a 28m elevation loss).  He moved to the marathon five years later, eventually winning an Olympic bronze medal in 2016, the Chicago Marathon in 2017, and running a personal best of 2:06:07 (pre supershoes). Although Fisher alluded to his potential interest in the New York City Marathon in his comments today, he didn't want to get ahead of himself.  He emphasized that he needed to feel something special after Sunday's race before taking another shot at high-level road racing. "Whether it means I win the race or I get 30th in the race, it will be a feeling that I'm looking for of, is there more to give here, or do I need to stick on the track a little longer?" Fisher told reporters.  "That's what I'm looking for here.  It's really hard to describe.  It's not a time, it's not a place.  It's a feeling of competition and a feeling of wanting something more out of myself.  I'll let you know after if I find it." The United Airlines NYC Half will be covered locally in the Tri-State area by ABC New York, Channel 7 with live news cut-ins between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. EDT The professional races will be covered by livestreams on ESPN+, abc7ny.com, and New York Road Runners digital channels beginning at 7:00 a.m. EDT. PHOTO: Grant Fisher in New York City in advance of the 2026 United Airlines NYC Half (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)  

(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. ATLANTA (01-Mar) -- It was both the best of times and the worst of times at this morning's USATF Half-Marathon Championships, part of the Publix Marathon Race Weekend organized by the Atlanta Track Club. Moments after a jubilant Wesley Kiptoo crossed the beautifully-dressed finish line in the Home Depot Backyard and celebrated his first USA title, the mood quickly turned to confusion, disbelief and then bitter disappointment.  Three women who were leading the race by a comfortable margin --Jess McClain (Brooks), Anna Grace Hurley (Asics), and Ednah Kurgat (U.S. Army)-- had run off-course at about the 12 mile (19.3 km) mark and ended up finishing ninth, twelfth, and thirteenth, respectively.  Molly Born, the reigning national marathon champion, crossed the finish line first in 1:09:43 and was declared the winner.  The Puma Elite Running athlete was shocked. "I don't know what I was thinking," a perplexed Born told Race Results Weekly.  "I crossed and I just thought they had the tape out for fun because I didn't know where I was.  I thought I was in fourth.  I was so far back that I didn't see them make the wrong turn." Minutes earlier at the 15-K mark (49:11), McClain, Hurley and Kurgat were battling for the win with Carrie Elwood (Asics) just five seconds back.  Hurley had done most of the leading, but Kurgat put in a surge just after 15-K which Hurley quickly covered.  McClain fell back to third, but battled back to the leaders.  McClain, the top American at last year's Boston Marathon, eventually took the lead and then opened a gap on her two rivals.  Hurley caught up, but McClain pulled away again, this time for good.  She had a commanding lead and looked as though she would capture her first national half-marathon title in just a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, the three leaders --who followed the lead vehicle and a motorcycle ferrying a TV camera operator-- had run off the course.  Ellwood, who was close behind, also went the wrong way but was quickly told by an official that she needed to turn back, saving her race. "I was in fourth place and the top three were well ahead of me, 150 meters maybe ahead of me," Ellwood explained.  "I started following them and I probably went 150 meters down, then a guy on a motorcycle came up behind me and was like, 'You're going the wrong way.'  I turned and looked at him and said, 'No I'm not.  All the leaders are in front of me.' He was like, 'No, you're going the wrong way.  I'm going to tell them to turn around.'" Ellwood got back on course and finished second in 1:09:47.  Annie Rodenfels, who followed Born and Ellwood, finished third in her half-marathon debut in 1:10:12.  She too was shocked. "When I crossed (the finish line) they said third!" Rodenfels recounted.  "I was like, no!" Because today's race was the team selection event for the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in September, making a top-three finish was particularly important for the top athletes.  McClain, Hurley and Kurgat saw their team berths evaporate right before their eyes. "We were, minimum, 1000 meters off-course," Hurley told Race Results Weekly.  "We had at least a clear split at 15-K when the three of us were clear of the field.  Yeah, we ran quite a bit off-course.  We just followed the lead car." For McClain, today's result was particularly painful.  She had finished fourth at these championships last year (which also selected a national team even though the 2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships were cancelled), and had put a real focus on contending for the win this year. "It's frustrating because... you're just robbed of multiple things," said McClain, whose GPS watch said she ran a total of 13.6 miles/21.9 kilometers.  "What's getting you through the last two miles is that moment you cross the finish line." The affected athletes protested, but USATF officials decided that the results should stand.  In a statement, USATF officials wrote: "Following the completion of the USATF Half Marathon Championship in Atlanta, a protest was filed by athletes in the women's field who followed a lead vehicle off course. That protest was denied and an appeal was submitted. The jury of appeals found that 'the event did not meet USATF Rule 243 and that the course was not adequately marked at the point of misdirection. This violation contributed to the misdirection taken by the athletes within the top four at the time of misdirection. However, the jury of appeals finds no recourse within the USATF rulebook to alter the results order of finish. The results order of finish as posted is considered final.'" However, the official team selection for September's World Championships will not be made until May.  USATF officials said that they "will review the events from Atlanta carefully" before making a decision. Born, who has now won two national titles in a span of 85 days, had mixed emotions. "I shouldn't go to Copenhagen," said Born, who was still trying to process what had happened.  "I shouldn't.  I'm fine.  I'm not going to fight for my spot." But for Kiptoo, today was all sunshine (literally) and rainbows.  He and two-time Olympian Hillary Bor broke away from the field right from the gun and built a lead of 18 seconds by 5-K, and 42 seconds at 10-K.  By 15-K it was clear that --barring disaster-- either Bor or Kiptoo would get the win.  Just before the 20-K mark Kiptoo made his move.  The 2021 NCAA indoor 5000m champion for Iowa State surged away from Bor and ran to the finish line alone.  He clocked 1:01:15 to Bor's 1:01:30.  At Friday's press conference he had predicted that he would win. "If you know your training and you know how you're feeling you know what's coming," said Kiptoo with an American flag around his shoulders.  "It's not a surprise.  I've been putting in a lot of work and my team (Hoka Northern Arizona Elite) and my coach (Jack Mullaney) has been there for me.  I have been working so hard." Third place went to Ahmed Muhumed, Kiptoo's NAZ Elite teammate, who broke away with Charles Hicks from the chase pack just before the 15-K mark.  Muhumed ran 1:01:51 to Hicks's 1:02:10.  Like McClain, Muhumed had finished fourth last year. Today's race winners earned $20,000 in prize money, part of a $110,000 purse.  The next USATF road running championship will be at the 10-mile distance at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Miler in Washington, D.C. on April 12. PHOTO: Wesley Kiptoo winning the 2026 USATF Half-Marathon Championships, part of the Publix Marathon Weekend organized by the Atlanta Track Club (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)