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By Patrice Malloy
SAN DIEGO - (August 20, 2006) - The 29th America's Finest City Half Marathon proved to be a fine one indeed for champions Wilson Chebet, a Kenyan racing for the first time on American soil, and Russian Tatiana Chulakh who defended her title on Sunday.
Chebet won in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 38 seconds, the second fastest time in the race's history and 14 seconds shy of the course record, while Chulakh ran 1:14:12. Both athletes were awarded $1500 for their victories. Over 5,948 participants enjoyed the hilly but scenic point-to-point course under mercifully-cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 60s.
Chebet's road trip to his first U.S. road race was an endurance event in of itself. Last Thursday, Chebet left Iten, Kenya and traveled six hours by bus to the Nairobi airport where he boarded a 10-hour flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam, followed by an eight-hour flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, and ending with a three-hour flight to San Diego. He arrived at his hotel at 7:00pm on Friday.
Seemingly unfazed by his arduous itinerary, the 21-year-old's only regret was that he missed breaking the course record. "I could have had the record if I was pushed by another competitor," said Chebet, who ran alone after the 10K point and won the race by over 2-1/2 minutes, the largest margin of victory in AFC history. The bonus for breaking the course record is $1000. Chebet, who will be training in North Carolina, holds a half-marathon PR of 1:02:19.
"Everybody went off on their own after the 10K," said Joshua Kemei who finished second in 1:05:19. "We could not go after Chebet, he was so strong."
In the women's competition, Chulakh became the only AFC champion to ever achieve consecutive wins. Leading the race wire-to-wire, Chulakh gradually increased her distance from contender Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, who trailed her by 10 seconds after one mile and 47 seconds at 10K.
"I looked back and could see that she was not going with me and I knew I could relax," said Chulakh, whose debut half-marathon performance at AFC last year (1:13:36) was 36 seconds faster than her encore. "A foot injury was bothering me. It slowed me a bit." Lewy-Boulet of Oakland, Calif., finished second in 1:16:26.
A record 8,213 runners from 45 states and 13 countries entered the half-marathon and the 5K - the highest number of entrants in event's 29-year history.
The event - produced by Neil Finn Sports Management, Inc. of San Diego - benefits the Cabrillo National Monument Foundation and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and has raised over $1.9 million for non-profit organizations.
29th America's Finest City Half Marathon - San Diego, CA, Sunday, August 20, 2006
MEN
1) Wilson Chebet, KEN, 1:02:38, $1500
2) Joshua Kemei, KEN, 1:05:19, $1000
3) Joseph Mutinda, KEN, 1:05:43, $750
4) Richard Kimeli, KEN, 1:06:28, $500
5) Justin Patananan, USA / CA, 1:06:34 $300
WOMEN
1) Tatiana Chulakh, RUS, 1:14:12, $1500 plus $500 previous winner bonus
2) Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, USA / CA, 1:16:26, $1000
3) Brianna Torres, USA / AZ, 1:20:13, $750
4) Caroline Annis, USA / CA, 1:20:17, $500
5) Danuta Marczyk-Teschner, POL, 1:22:02, $300
For full results, go to: AFCHalf.com
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