The boys from the Brazilian army swept the top four places at the 23rd Army Ten-Miler as if the race were just another team workout. Jose Ferreira (31) sprinted past Reginaldo Campos, Jr. in the final straightaway, finishing in 49 minutes 21 seconds, to win by one second.

"The weather was very pleasant," Ferreira said through an interpreter, putting him in a distinct minority for what many considered brutal racing conditions. "My only worry was about the Kenyans."

In the women's race, longtime Russian national team competitor Firaya Zhadanova-Sultanova (46) led early and won in a masters record of 58:31, beating runner-up Susannah Kvasnicka (35), from Great Falls, VA, by 40 seconds.

In a race large of numbers--a record field of 26,000 registered and more than 17,000 finished--and long in military tradition, the weather dominated this year's event, and was blamed at least in part for the death of a Fairfax County man, who collapsed as he approached the finish line 2 hours 40 minutes into the race.

"We're all saddened by that, for sure," said Army spokesman Col. Jim Yonts, who ran the race and said he was struck by the lack of a breeze over the bright and sunny final few miles.

The surge of thirsty runners seemed to overwhelm many of those working at aid stations, and runners toward the rear of the field complained that there was no water by the time they arrived. After the race, the medical tent was jammed with overheated runners of all ages.

The temperature at the 8 a.m. start was 70 degrees, and the humidity 94 percent, part of an early autumn heat wave that wrecked havoc on the Chicago and Twin Cities marathons held at the same time but about a thousand miles away.

"The humidity caught up to me the last three miles, and it got pretty miserable," said Kvasnicka (photo), who ran conservatively through the early going and thus never saw Zhadanova-Sultanova. But Kvasnicka, who races sparingly, was satisfied with her nearly even five-mile splits. She recently began training under American University Coach Matt Centrowitz in preparation for the women's Olympic trials marathon next spring in Boston.

Defending women's champion Alisa Harvey (42), from Manassas, also raced cautiously and finished fifth in 1:00:34.

"By four miles, I knew I couldn't go with the leaders," Harvey said, "so I just tried to stay within myself and not suffer too much."

Three-time masters champion Martha Merz (45), from Annandale, finished 16th overall and sixth among women 40 and over in 1:03:19.

Zhdanova-Sultanova led the Atlanta-based Foot Solutions team; teammate Tatayana Pozdnyakova (52), from Ukraine and one of the greatest masters racers ever, finished 20th overall in 1:04:42.

Foot Solutions dominated the men's race last year, but this year only fifth-place Ethiopian Tamrat Ayalew, who ran with the leaders until the eight-mile mark, managed to crack the Brazilian juggernaut; Ayalew's teammates took seventh, eighth and ninth.

Edmond Chapa (28), from Alexandria, was the top local men's finisher, 11th in 51:57. District Mayor Adrian Fenty (37), ran 1:08:51, only 17 seconds slower than his Cherry Blossom time in April, and finished 512th overall.

Mike Scannell (45), from Fenton, MI, won a close men's masters race, finishing 24th overall in 54:31. The next five places, all within 14 seconds, were masters runners.

NOTE: In unforgiving Chicago, last-ditch Olympic trials hopefuls took aim at the men's qualifying standard of 2:22:00; none came close. Edmund Burke ran 2:43:06, Kyle Smits 2:45:18 and Darrell General, 2:54:46. Philippe Rolly dropped out after 20K.

There was a fatality at the finish line, identified by race organizers a few days after the race as Michael Banner (25) of Fairfax, VA.

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