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Chevron Houston Marathon & Aramco Half Marathon: New Course Records Set
By David Monti (c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved.Used with permission. With minor additions from the official press release.
All photos by Lance Phegley/RaceShots.net
HOUSTON (15-Jan) -- While it was hard to match the excitement of yesterday's Olympic Marathon Trials here, the top competitors in the Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half-Marathon on Sunday, January 15 toppled the men's and women's course records in both races. Ethiopian athletes swept all four titles. Sunny skies and ideal conditions, with a temperature of 52 degrees F at the start, set the stage for the historic day. There were a record 20,000 finishers in the event’s three races, including a 5K. Today's event marked the 40th running of the marathon here; it has grown from 113 runners in the first year.
The record breaking started in the half-marathon. With pacemaking help from Kenya's Philemon Limo, Ethiopian Feyisa Lilesa (photo at left), the reigning IAAF World Championships Marathon bronze medalist, went out at a fast clip, hitting 5-K in 14:01 and 10-K in 28:02. His nearest challenger, compatriot Tilahun Regassa, was nearly a minute back. Limo left the course after 10-K, leaving Lilesa--who only decided to run the race a week ago--to run the remaining kilometers alone. He clocked an excellent 59:22, to erase Ryan Hall's 2007 course record of 59:43. His was the fourth-fastest half-marathon ever on U.S. soil. Tilahun Regassa was runner-up, in 1:01:28"I was very much prepared for this race, and it was comparatively easy fo
r me," Lilesa said through an interpreter. "I'm really very happy. This is my best personal best. I'm happy to have achieved this thing (the record)."The women's half-marathon offered considerably more drama. Reigning Boston Marathon champion Caroline Kilel (photo at right in green singlet) of Kenya was running shoulder-to-shoulder with 21-year-old Belaynesh Oljira, an Ethiopian who won last month's Corrida de São Silvestre in Luanda, Angola. With 200 meters to go, the pair jostled as they made the final left hand turn into the 184-meter homestretch in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center. Oljira went wide, then accelerated away from Kilel to take the win in 1:08:26, two seconds ahead of the Kenyan and 1:15 under Shalane Flanagan's 2010 course record (1:09:41). Oljira said that she was counting on her track speed to get the win.
"I'm very [experienced in] the 10,000m, so I have the speed," she said through the interpreter. "That helped me a lot today."
She was not, however, thinking about the course record, and the $7500 bonus the organizers had on offer. "Nobody told me about the time, but I ran very fast," she said with a laugh. It was her first race in the United States.
Both Lilesa and Oljira earned $10,000 for their victories plus the course record bonuses.
Behind th
e men's winner, two Americans ran noteworthy times. Scott Bauhs of the Mammoth Track Club clocked 1:01:30 in third place, while former University of Oregon star Luke Puskedra ran 1:01:36 in fourth. Both marks were personal bests, and Puskedra made his debut at the distance.In the women's half, 1984 American Olympic marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson finished in 1:38:03. (photo at right)
In the marathon, Ethiopia's Tariku Jufar, 27, broke away from compatriot Debebe Tolossa in the 38th kilometer, then ran alone to the finish in a course record 2:06:51 (previous CR 2:07:04, 2010). Tariku Jufar was struck by a car in Addis Ababa in 2009, suffered broken bones, and missed about nine months of comptetion. But he was beaming after his victory and personal best (previous best of 2:08:10, 2008).
"I'm really very glad to run on this course in this race," he said with the help of an interpreter. "I was very much encouraged by the people on the side cheering us. I was also comfortable with the (cool) weather, as well."
Jufar said he was very thankful that he was able to recover fully from the accident.
"It was a very difficult time for me," he said. "By God's grace I came out of it. I had a broken collarbone." He continued: "I'm glad now that God has helped me to come here and win and make a better time."
The women's race boiled down to a time trial for Ethiopia's Alemitu Abera. Aided by a male pacemaker, Daniel Gathei, Abera ran away from the field to win in 2:23:14, more than five minutes ahead of Australia's Benita Willis. The third place female (2:31:19) was Yihunlish Delelecha, 30, of Ethiopia, who trains in Waldorf, MD. Abera broke Teyba Erkesso's 2010 course record by 39 seconds.
Both Jufar and Abera won $35,000 in prize money, plus a $10,000 bonus for breaking their respective course records.
Amongst athletes trying to qualify for the Olympic Games, Willis did best. Her 2:28:24 was well inside of the Australian federation standard of 2:32:00, so she is very likely to make the team.
"My main aim was to run under 2:32-flat, which is under our qualifying standard," she said. "I knew I was in really good shape, but I didn't want to run too fast today."
Behind Willis, Hungary's Zsofia Erdelyi clocked 2:36:56 in fifth place, which may get the USC steeplechaser selected for the London Games (the IAAF "A" standard is 2:37:00). For Erdelyi, 24, today's race was her second marathon in just 42 days. She ran the Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon last December, clocking 2:48:59 in her debut.
On the men's side, there was less success. Australia's Shawn Forrest ran 2:14:37 (fourth place) and Canada's Simon Bairu 2:19:52 (sixth). Neither athlete made their national federation's qualifying standards.
It was the sixth consecutive year that an Ethiopian woman won the marathon in Houston, and the fourth year in a row for the men.