Posted: August 27, 2006

Athletics: Nyariki & Ndereba Win Inaugural NYC Half-Marathon

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

NEW YORK (27-Aug) -- Thomas Nyariki and Catherine Ndereba were victorious at the inaugural NYC Half-Marathon presented by NIKE, leading 10,294 runners from Central Park to Battery Park through the streets of Manhattan. Nyariki, the 1997 IAAF World Championships bronze medalist at 5000m from Kenya, made a smashing half-marathon debut, out- legging American Olympians Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman in the second half of the race. Nyariki broke the finish tape in lower Manhattan in 1:01:22, the fastest-ever half-marathon run in New York City. Keflezighi and Abdirahman, also making their half-marathon debuts, were close behind in 1:01:28 and 1:01:34, respectively. Moroccan Mohamed Amyn was fourth in a personal best 1:02:11. Ndereba, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the marathon, won the 16th half-marathon of her career, outsprinting Benita Johnson in the final few meters of the race. Both the Kenyan and the Australian were timed in 1:09:44, with just 3/10ths of a second separating them in their extended times. Reigning IAAF World Half-Marathon champion Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania finished a strong third in 1:10:11, followed by Yuri Kano of Japan in 1:11:44, and Colleen De Reuck, 42, of Boulder, Colo., in 1:11:48, the fourth-fastest half-marathon ever run by an over-40 woman. Both Nyariki and Ndereba won $10,000 out of a $60,000 prize money purse. The race was held in unusually cool conditions for late August in New York under thickly clouded skies. Rain threatened through the first hour of the race, but did not start falling until the top men had finished. It quickly began to rain hard, soaking the middle-of-the-pack runners. Created by the New York Road Runners, the race began on the East Drive in Central Park just north of the Metropolitan Museun of Art. Athletes ran a full loop of the Park --about 10 km-- before exiting the Park to run through Times Square, across 42nd Street and down the West Side Highway to the finish just outside of Battery Park. NYC Half-Marathon Top-15 Results MEN - 1, Tom Nyariki, 34, Kenya, New Balance TC, 1:01:22 DB 2, Meb Keflezighi, 31, San Diego, CA, Nike, 1:01:28 DB 3, Abdi Abdirahman, 29, Tucson, AZ, Nike, 1:01:34 DB 4, Mohamed Amyn, 30, Morocco, 1:02:11 PB 5, Demesse Tefera, 23, New York, NY, Ethiopia, Westchester TC, 1:03:17 PB 6, Worku Beyi, 19, Peekskill, NY, Ethiopia, Westchester TC, 1:03:41 PB 7, Andrew Letherby, 32, Boulder, CO, Australia, Asics, 1:03:46 8, Alan Culpepper, 33, Lafayette, CO, Nike, 1:04:07 9, Kassahun Kabiso, 22, Peekskill, NY, Ethiopia, Westchester TC, 1:05:31 10, Alirio Carrasco, 30, Bayside, NY, Colombia, West Side Runners, 1:06:25 11, Matt Downin, 29, Madison, WI, New Balance TC, 1:07:59 12, Art Siemers, 33, Golden, CO, 1:08:31 13, Elmustafa McHkirate, 25, Astoria, NY, Morocco, Westchester TC, 1:08:38 14, Robert Cannon, 23, Toms River, NJ, 1:08:59 15, Omri Holzman, 27, New York, NY, Greater New York RT, 1:10:44 WOMEN - 1, Catherine Ndereba, 34, Kenya, Nike, 1:09:43 2, Benita Johnson, 27, Australia, Nike, 1:09:43 3, Constantina Tomescu-Dita, 36, Boulder, CO, Romania, Asics, 1:10:11 4, Yuri Kano, 27, Boulder, CO, Japan, Shiseido Running Club, 1:11:44 5, Colleen De Reuck, 42, Boulder, CO, Nike, 1:11:48 6, Claudia Camargo, 35, Danbury, CT, Argentina, West Side Runners, 1:13:39 PB 7, Aziza Aliyu, 20, Peekskill, NY, Ethiopia, Westchester TC, 1:15:18 DB 8, Sopagna Eap, 25, Eugene, OR, Team Eugene, 1:17:22 PB 9, Sharon Lemberger, 33, Stamford, CT, Westchester TC, 1:19:43 10, Leteyesus Berhe, 28, Peekskill, NY, Ethiopia, Westchester TC, 1:21:05 11, Abbi Gleeson, 25, New York, NY, New York Athletic Club, 1:22:00 12, Carter Hamill, 23, New York, NY, New York Athletic Club, 1:22:02 13, Cindy Pomeroy, 45, Windsor Locks, CT, Westchester TC, 1:22:05 14, Julia Stamps, 27, New York, NY, New York Athletic Club, 1:22:36 15, Lilian Kroner, 40, Monroe, NY, West Side Runners, 1:23:57

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