Posted: November 22, 2004

Athletics: Kororia And Cheptanui Win Palermo Marathon

From David Monti

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

By David Monti with Alberto Zorzi

Kenyans Jomo Kororia and Caroline Cheptanui won today's 10th Palermo City Marathon, the latter in course record time.

Cheptanui completed the first half just a few meters ahead of the top Italian woman, Ornella Ferrara, in a modest 1:17:58, but the Kenyan dramatically increased her pace in the second half, clocking 1:13:17 to lock in the victory in 2:31:15, a course record. Ferrara finished a distant second in 2:38:21, and won the Italian marathon championship.

There were no other women under three hours and ten minutes.

In the men's race, former the Country Music Marathon champion Kororia prevailed over three other Kenyans by surging up the hill to the historic Palazzo dei Normanni with 4 km to go. He crossed the finish line in 2:12:22, with Hosea Kimutai second in 2:13:06.

Roberto Barbi, 39, finished 6th overall in 2:21:06 to win the Italian championship.