Posted: May 29, 2005

Athletics: David Cheruyiot of Kenya Wins ING Ottawa Marathon in 2:14:20

Ottawa, Sun may 29, 14.30gmt :

National Capital Race Weekend – Ottawa, Canada

With high humidity keeping the ING Ottawa Marathon race times slower than expected – David Cheruyiot of Kenya won the men’s event in 2.14.20, and Lidia Vassilievskaya of Russia, the women’s in 2.31.53

Grace Momanyi proved the star of the National Capital Race Weekend in Canada. Momanyi, 24, of Kenya pulverised the record in the women’s section of the two 10k races, sponsored by MDS Nordion. Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco was the big favourite, and after she, Momanyi and defending champion, Aster Demissie of Ethiopia had tracked surprisingly close to the men during the opening kilometres, it was the Moroccan who broke away to lead the women’s race at 5k in 15.28, with Momanyi on 15.40. The Kenyan made an effort to close in the next kilometre, but the gap stayed the same until the last kilometre, when a sustained final effort by Momanyi took her past Leghzaoui with just 200 metres to run.

Momanyi swept to victory in 31.24, smashing the 16 year old course record of Albertina Dias or Portugal by 47 seconds. Leghzaoui was second in 31.28, and a second Kenyan, Teresa Wanjiku passed Demissie, but was a distant third in 32.33. Momanyi, who is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said, “We were running with the men until 2k, then Asmae broke away. I couldn't keep the pace. I tried to pass after one kilometre, but she wouldn't let me get ahead. I noticed the pace was constant. It wasn't increasing. I thought ..I can catch up, I had hope I could catch up. At 7k I saw she didn't keep the pace up. I tried again at 200 metres (from the finish), and it worked”. Momanyi next races at Peachtree, while Leghzaoui goes for the Freihofer’s Run.

The men’s 10k was more straightforward, George Kirwa Misoi, also of Kenya pulling gradually away from the field, to win by 100 metres in 28.56. The best scrap was for second place, with pre-race favourite, another Kenyan, Reuben Chebii just edging Burundian, Jean-Claude Nduwingona by a stride and a second, in 29.08.

The men’s race in the ING Ottawa Marathon was highly competitive, although not fast, until the 35k mark, when Cheruyiot put in a burst that the other half dozen men with him couldn’t match. There had been eleven men together at halfway, reached in 66.30, with the contenders later blaming the high humidity for their cautious running, rather than going for the intended 64.40 ‘half’.

Nevertheless, when Cheruyiot abandoned caution at 35k, there was no one to match him, and he ran out an easy winner, albeit three minutes outside the course record. His colleague, John Itati was second in 2.14.47, and Danny Kassap of Democratic Republic of Congo was third in 2.15.13.

Ludmila Kortchagina failed to defend her title, but the Toronto resident having acquired her Canadian citizenship (formerly Russian) just two days prior, she was happy enough to win her first ‘new’ national title, in second place. She can have no complaints though, because her former colleague, Vassilevskaya was the only one to follow the pacemaker, who took her through 25k at 2.28 pace. Had she maintained that, she would have got close to the course record of 2.30.37, by Sylvia Ruegger in 1984, but the strain of being by hereslf for close to 30k told, and she was eventually over a minute down on the record, with 2.31.53.

Kortchagina did close in the latter stages of the race, after she dropped her new colleague, Nicole Stevenson (also from Toronto). But it wasn’t sufficiently soon or fast enough to challenge Vassilevskaya, and Kortchagina finished second on 2.32.19, with Stevenson third in 2.38.50.

MDS NORDION 10K 
WOMEN 
1  Grace  Momanyi                    KEN            31:24 
2  Asmae  Leghzaoui                   MOR            31:28 
3  Teresa  Wanjiku                      KEN            32:33 
4  Aster Demissie                     ETH            33:11 
5  Lisa  Harvey                        CAN            33:54 
6  Anastasia  Ndereba            KEN            34:17 
7  Leah  Pells                           CAN            34:39 
8  Tania  Jones              CAN            35:42 
9  Mimi  Fallon              USA            35:54 
10 Rebecca Stallwood            CAN            36:01 

MEN  
1  George  Kirwa Misoi            KEN            28:56 
2  Reuben  Chebii             KEN            29:08 
3  Jean-Claude Nduwingona BUR    29:09 
4  Simon  Wangai                       KEN            29:15 
5  Nelson  Kiplagat                      KEN            29:27 
6  Gilbert  Koech             KEN            29:32 
7  Gittah  Macharia                    KEN            29:41 
8  El Arbi  Khattabi                      MOR            29:49 
9  Abel  Ondeyo                       KEN            29:51 
10 Jeremy Deere              CAN            30:16 

ING OTTAWA  MARATHON 
MEN 
1  David  Cheruiyot                    KEN                2:14:20 
2  John  Itati                            KEN                2:14:47 
3  Danny  Kassap                        D.R CONGO            2:15:13    
4  Joseph  Nderitu                       KEN                2:16:21 
5  Elly  Rono                            KEN                2:16:47 
6  Noah Kipsang Talam  KEN                2:17:51 
7  Jim  Finlayson                    CAN                2:18:21    
8  Ryan  Day                           CAN                2:19:55    
9  Matthew  McInnes                     CAN                2:21:45    
10 Joseph Nsengiyumva            RWANDA            2:22:38   
 
WOMEN 
1  Lidia Vassilevskaya          RUS                2:31:53  
2  Lioudmila  Kortchagina            CAN                2:32:19    
3  Nicole  Stevenson                   CAN                2:38:50    
4  Natalia Volgina                       RUS                2:43:25 
5  Tina  Kader                         CAN                2:55:07  
6  Michelle  Schuler                        CAN                2:56:14    
7  Emily  Bryans                        USA                2:57:19    
8  Heather  Goodfellow            CAN                2:57:41    
9  Kim  House                         CAN                2:57:44    
10  Stephanie Hodge             CAN                2:58:04