DEFAR WINS IN HALF-MARTHON DEBUT
By David Monti with Sam Grotewold
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
Ethiopia's
Meseret Defar made the most of her half-marathon debut at the ING Rock
'n' Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon today, beating Kenyan road racing
ace Lineth Chepkurui in the final sprint to clock a course record
1:07:45. Chepkurui, who won the race in 2006 when it was still called
the Philadelphia Distance Run, finished just two seconds back, setting a
personal best.
There was a parade of fast times after the
top-2. Ethiopia's Werknesh Kidane clocked 1:08:31 for third, American
Shalane Flanagan ran a career best 1:08:37 in fourth, and Kim Smith
finished in 1:08:40 in fifth.
The men's race went to Kenyan
Matthew Kisorio in 1:00:16, his best time ever for the half-marathon
distance. Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia suffered his first defeat on
the roads this year, fininishing second in a personal best 1:00:25,
followed by Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco in 1:01:33 and unknown Kenyan
Peter Some in fourth in 1:01:35. Canada's Simon Bairu rounded out the
top-5 in 1:02:08, also a personal best.
American Ryan Hall finished outside of the top-10; his finish time is not yet known.
ENDS
