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 Rono Three-Peats in SunTrust Richmond Marathon Incredibly Close Races at the nTelos 8K Finish Line! by Rick Platt November 15, 2004 Richmond, VA For the Washington Running Report See the SunTrust Richmond Marathon Web site
Conventional wisdom has it that runners should wait one day for
every mile of race distance before racing again, meaning
runners can run 10Ks every weekend, but should wait two weeks
after a half marathon, and four weeks after a marathon before
seriously competing again. Tell that to Elly Rono and Lyubov
Denisova, who defy convention. Both ran the ING New York City
Marathon on Sunday, November 7, then returned to the roads six
days later in the 27th Annual SunTrust Richmond Marathon and
nTelos 8K. Elly Rono, a Kenyan residing in Chapel Hill, NC surprised many
in 2003 by finishing fourth in New York City's marathon in
2:11:31 (not far off his PR of 2:10:57), and two weeks later
succesfully defending his title at Richmond with a course
record 2:15:36, breaking his own mark of 2:16:02 from 2002.
This year the New York and Richmond marathons were on
consecutive weekends. Strong 20 mph winds, gusting to 30 mph,
kept the tall Kenyan from another course mark, but Rono won
easily in 2:17:55, well ahead of Kenyans Paul Bor (2:19:13) and
Jonathan Ndambuki (2:20:03). Russian Aleksey Khokhlov (2:20:44)
and Kenyan Moses Cheserek (2:22:14) completed the top five
prize-money spots ($2500-1500-750-500-250) in a record field of
4,221 entrants. This year a sinus infection slowed Rono to 2:24
at New York. "Usually I have a very good recovery," Rono told
the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I bounce back within two or three
days, so it didn't affect me at all." The lead pack of five
stayed together over the Lee Bridge at 16 miles (where the wind
was at its worst), but fell apart shortly thereafter, with Bor
the last to fall behind Rono at 21 miles. Tammy Slusser, 39, of Monroeville, PA had less competition in
winning the women's division in her 70th lifetime marathon and
tenth marathon win. She has been remarkably consistent at
Richmond, running 2:56:37 in 2002 (5th place), 2:56:51 in 2003
(3rd place) and 2:56:40 in 2004. "This is my third year here in
Richmond," said Slusser. "The third time was a charm. It was a
little windy, especially coming over that bridge at 15 miles,
but I held on, and saved a little bit of energy for the last
couple of miles." The rest of the prize-money winners were Lou
Hohnka-Oswald, age 27 of Herndon (2:59:03), Catherine Phillips,
age 29 of Lynchburg (2:59:09), Suzanne Laprade, age 35 of
Richmond (3:03:07) and Karen Hess, age 31 of Raleigh, NC
(3:04:17). Denisova, a Russian, was the other Richmond elite who ran in
New York City, and her performance was perhaps more impressive
than Rono's; she ran a marathon personal best of 2:25:18 for
third at New York, then came back for the nTelos 8K six days
later. She was part of two amazing three-runner blanket
finishes in the 8K, the most exciting finish in race history.
In the women's division, Kenyan Teresa Wanjiku caught Ethiopian
Genet Gebregiorgis just before the finish banner to win by a
step, although the official race times had them one second
apart, 26:22 to 26:23. Denisova was close behind for third,
also in 26:23. Remarkably the men's race was even closer, as American Ian
Connor and Kenyans Eric Chirchir and Patrick Nthiwa were all
three timed in 23:24. On the surface, it's usually a surprise
when a U.S. runner beats top-class Kenyans, but Connor, 25, of
Johnson City, TN has impressive credentials. At Ohio State, he
was a multiple Big Ten conference champion in the 3,000-meter
steeplechase, 3000 meters and 5000 meters, was twice NCAA
runnerup in the steeplechase, and twice placed sixth in the
NCAA cross country championships; he is a five-time All-
American with an indoor mile best of 3:58.2. The Ntelos 8K is his second road race; when Connor saw the
finish banner, he asked the lead car, 'Is that the finish?' "I
went, and I was like, please don't go too early, but I got to
the line. It was exciting," he explained after the race. The
Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted Ian Connor on the finishing
kick, "We ran like banshees for the last 200 meters." James Rhyne, 50, of Gastonia, NC was caught in an intentional
lie. On race day, he finished in the marathon in 2:45:12 and
accepted the $250 Masters (40-and-over) first place prize money
check at the awards ceremony. Alerted by a suspicious runner
the next day, elite athlete coordinator Thom Suddeth did some
research, discovered that Rhyne's half marathon split was 1:59
and did not record a 20-mile split time. Suddeth's also learned
of a shoplifting charge for Rhyne and officially disqualified
Rhyne for cheating on Monday afternoon.
Results for the Top Ten Finishers
SunTrust Richmond Marathon Top 10 Men NAME CITY FINTIME CHIPTIME AGE 1 RONO, ELLY CHAPEL HILL NC 2:17:55 2:17:44 34 2 BOR, PAUL CHAPEL HILL NC 2:19:13 2:19:13 30 3 NDAMBUKI, JONATHAN SANTA FE NM 2:20:03 2:20:03 28 4 KHOKHLOV, ALEKSEY GERMANTOWN MD 2:20:44 2:20:44 33 5 CHESEREK, MOSES HAMILTON, CANADA 2:22:14 2:22:14 27 6 HILL, KEVIN WINSTON-SALEM NC 2:24:32 2:24:32 27 7 SIELEI, SIMION DURHAM NC 2:29:16 2:29:16 36 8 SAWG, CHARLES DURHAM NC 2:30:45 2:30:45 23 9 MAKSIMOW, PETER SPRINGFIELD MA 2:32:22 2:32:22 25 10 LOWRY, JEREMY FALLS CHURCH VA 2:33:02 2:33:02 24
See the event Press Release
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