Posted: October 3, 2005

Athletics: Kamindo, Portilla Set Course Records at 3rd Road Runner Akron Marathon

Record 4,000 runners participate in marathon and team relays

AKRON, Ohio - (Oct. 1, 2005) - At the 3rd Road Runner Akron Marathon, Charles Kamindo from Kenya won the men's title in 2:18:48, while Maria Portilla from Peru captured the women's crown in 2:39:09. Both champions also earned $12,000 and set course records. The previous course records were 2:21:59 by Kenyan Jonah Rono in 2003 and 2:40:17 by Elena Orleva of Russia in 2004.

Near perfect weather greeted a field of approximately 4,000 runners for the 3rd edition including team relays, the largest number of runners in the race's history. Additionally, 2,000 children participated in the Kid's Fun Run, a 1K run along the Ohio & Erie Canal.

Team relays covered the full marathon distance race (42.2K/26.2 miles) with five legs (10K, 5K, 10K, 5K and 12.2K) or two legs (25K and 17.2K).

The winning five-person relay team members were Ryan Desgrange, James Jurcevich, Josh Ordway, Aaron Rowe and Matthew Wehrman from team "Columbus Running Company" with a time of 2:12:47. The winning female five-person team (2:42:58) included Alexandra Alves, Anjeanete Arabian, Melissa Converse, Marlene Persson and Michelle Rupe from team "Running Goddesses". "SupportBHunt" with Adam Bray, Colleen Harrison, Dave Mooney, James Sjostrom and Rick Williams took the mixed team title in 2:20:06.

"First Energy Team 8" won the new two-person relay in 2:58:22. Team members were Mick Albanese and Paul Carris. The winning female team, "Cougars" - Karen Howard-Goss and Cheri Triner-Napho, completed the course in 3:14:15. "Breaking Wind" (Jeff Day and Yi Huang) won the mixed team title (2:58:11).

The third Road Runner Akron Marathon and Team Relays started near the National Inventors Hall of Fame and concluded in Olympic fashion inside the Canal Park Stadium in downtown Akron.

3rd Road Runner Akron Marathon
Akron, OH, Saturday, October 1, 2005

MEN
1) Charles Kamindo, Kenya, 2:18:48*, $12,000
2) Albert Kiplagat, Kenya, 2:19:25, $5000
3) Sergey Emelyanov, Russia, 2:19:50, $2000
*course record (previous record, 2:21:59, Jonah Rono (KEN), 2003)

WOMEN
1) Maria Portilla, Peru, 2:39:09*, $12,000
2) Wioletta Kryza, Poland , 2:42:46, $5000
3) Marina Bychkova, Russia, 2:47:08, $2000
*course record (previous record, 2:40:17, Elena Orleva (RUS), 2004)

Complete race results are available online at: AkronMarathon.org.

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.runningusa.org.