Posted: March 13, 2004

Athletics: Keflezighi Wins Fourth Straight U.S. 15-K Title

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., won this morning's Gate River Run 15-K in Jacksonville, Fla., which served as the U.S. 15-K road racing championship. It was his fourth straight victory at this race.

His time of 43:22 was not only fast enough to beat all of his male rivals, but also to overtake women's champion, South African-born Colleen De Reuck of Boulder, Colo., who started five minutes ahead of him, in a special handicap race. De Reuck, 39, finished in 49:01, 39 seconds behind Keflezighi.

De Reuck was caught on the descent of the Hart Bridge in the final two kilometers of the course, by both Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz., who finished second.

"They caught me coming down the hill," DeReuck told News4Jax.com, the website of the local NBC-TV affiliate which covered the race live. "They came flying by. They weren't even breathing loud."

All finish times are unofficial pending the receipt of the official results from the organizers.

Keflezighi earned a tidy $15,000 payday: $10,000 for the win plus $5,000 for the equalizer bonus. De Reuck earned $10,000.

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