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John Itati, miler or marathoner? There was no question for the past two decades that the Kenyan who has trained in Norristown, PA since 2001 was a miler. After his brilliant victory in his debut at the fourth running of the Baltimore Marathon on Saturday, it appears that the 30-year-old affable racer is headed toward a career at the 26.2-mile distance.

"He told me yesterday that he wanted to go to Boston next year," Itati's jubilant agent Lisa Buster said after Itati dismantled a field of veteran distance runners to finish in a respectable 2 hours 14 minutes 51 seconds on a hilly, windy course. "He's 30. A lot of our guys are doing it. Catherine [Ndereba] has inspired lots of people to run the marathon."

His time eclipsed the event record of 2:17:44 set by countryman Erick Kimaiyo in 2002.

According to Itati, he came to Baltimore to "check out the distance." He found it to his liking, as he did the $15,000 check he received upon completion, the largest payday in his career. "I want to be a marathoner," he said afterward with a smile.

Forty-three-year-old Ramilya Burangulova of Russia joined Itati in the winner's circle, outlasting a comrade half her age to win in 2:40:21. Her time smashed the event race of 2:48:50 set last year by countrywoman Elvira Kolpakova, but was much slower than her recent 2:33-2:34 performances.

"She was running for the win, so the time wasn't going to be fast," Burangulova said through interpreter Andre Baranov.

It appeared early on that a Russian sweep was in play. Mikhail Minyukhin darted from the starting gun and was quickly out of sight of the rest of the field. "What he wanted to do from the beginning was to run his own pace," the 30-year-old St. Petersburg resident said through interpreter Konstantin Selinevich. "He thought the Kenyans went out too slowly. He's raced the Kenyans many times. It's not that he slowed down over the second half--the Kenyans picked it up."

The Kenyans agreed early on to let him go. Then, as the miles ticked off, they wondered if they would ever see him again before the finish. In pursuit were the rookie Itati and veterans Fred Getange, Wilson Komen, and Andrew Musuva.

"I just wanted to stay with the pack and run the second half fast," Itati said. But by the half-marathon mark in the Inner Harbor, which Minyukhin passed in 1:07:12, the chase group was 2:45 behind. "I said to the guys 'We need to close.' We couldn't even see him."

Minyukhin was comfortably ticking off mile splits between 4:47 and 5:17 through 15 miles, applying the same front-running strategy that won him three Bonn (Germany) Marathon titles from 2002-04, including his record-setting 2003 time of 2:14:44.

"After 16 miles, I started seeing him," said Itati, whose longest previous race was the September 19 Philadelphia Distance Run, where he placed fifth in the half marathon in 1:02:04 with Getange some 46 seconds back. "At 18 miles he looked behind and saw me."

Then it was just a matter of time when Itati would overtake Minyukhin. Itati coasted by the fading Minyukhin on an uphill segment near Clifton Park, about a quarter mile after Mile 19. Then he worked hard against the headwind around Lake Montebello to shake Getange, who claims a 2:13 marathon best.

As Getange passed Minyukhin, he was losing Itati. Successive 5:13 splits on miles 21 and 22, followed by a 5:01 mile, put the gap at 24 seconds. Itati put the exclamation point on his debut with a 4:45 downhill surge on Mile 24 and Getange, responding with a 5:01, dropped out of sight. Minyukhin thought he could catch Getange, but he would finish in 2:17:00, 27 seconds behind the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Kenyan.

The women's race was much more intimate. Three Europeans were vying for the large $15,000 first prize, compliments of Baltimore-based apparel maker Under Armour's generous sponsorship which quadrupled last year's total purse to $100,000, eighth largest amongst U.S. marathons.

Burangulova, who is a former cross-country skier who splits her training between Gainesville, FL and Russia, was trying to prove that, at age 43, she's still competitive with the kids; Russian Victoria Zueva, at age 21, is just trying to prove herself in the sport in her fifth marathon; and Poland's Violetta Kryza was attempting to get her long and distinguished career--with 22 wins in 45 marathons--back on track after serving a two-year ban for a drug violation exposed at the 2002 Pittsburgh Marathon.

Burangulova prevailed, but not after the three ran virtually together until around Mile 20.

"She wanted to start out with the other women and check them out, at least until the half-marathon mark," Zueva, who trains in Cheboksary, some 600 kilometers east of Moscow and famous for marathon greats Svetlana Zakharova and Tatyana Petrova, said through interpreter Konstantin Selinevich. "They were swapping leads but it broke up at the 20-mile mark when the Polish girl and Ramilya left her. Victoria tried to go with them but she had stomach cramps."

Burangulova, running in her fourth marathon in 12 months - including a ninth-place finish in Boston in April - and her 30th all-time, was too strong for Kryza. "By 21 miles, she passed me very quickly," said the 36-year-old Kryza ."Ramilya did the same thing to me at the Reggae Marathon in Jamaica [in 2001], where she paced off me for much of the way and then passed me for the victory," Kryza continued. "That's the only other time we have run head-to-head."

At 24 miles, Zueva garnered the strength to pass Kryza for the runner-up spot, ending in 2:41:31 and earning $5,000. Kryza followed 22 seconds later, walking away with $3,000 for her efforts.

In the accompanying half-marathon, Morocco took 1-3 in a close race, with Haji Abdrrahim (1:03:45) and El Arbi Khattabi (1:03:53) leading the way. Kenyan Samuel Ndereba was sandwiched in second in 1:03:47. Silvia Skvortsova of Russia (1:15:30), Teresa Wanjiku of Kenya (1:16:32) and American Marybeth Ellis of Denver (1:17:58) led the women.

And in the accompanying 5K, Kenyan Francis Kinwa (14:33) narrowly won while Frederick, Md.-based Russian Elana Orlova (16:21) was victorious by 33 seconds.

Some 9,532 applications were received for the marathon, marathon relay, half-marathon or 5K. Finishers in the marathon totaled 2,189, up slightly from the 2,070 completions last year.

See our race-day report by Jim Hage, with more photos and award winners.