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  



Top 10 Women
 1 SLUSSER, TAMMY       MONROEVILLE PA     2:56:40 2:56:40 39   
 2 HOHNKA-OSWALD, LOU   HERNDON VA         2:59:04 2:59:03 27  
 3 PHILLIPS, CATHERINE  LYNCHBURG VA       2:59:14 2:59:09 29  
 4 LAPRADE, SUZANNE     RICHMOND VA        3:03:11 3:03:07 35    
 5 HESS, KAREN          RALEIGH NC         3:04:24 3:04:17 31   
 6 DONALDSON, KIM       DURHAM NC          3:04:41 3:04:41 43   
 7 FILA, STEFANIE       ALBUQUERQUE NM     3:06:44 3:06:35 25   
 8 GRINSTEAD, MILLIGAN  ALEXANDRIA VA      3:07:47 3:07:38 24  
 9 TRENT, JEANIE        RICHMOND VA        3:07:58 3:07:51 43  
10 MCGHEE, LISA         WALL NJ            3:09:49 3:09:45 32  




nTelos 8K
Top 10 Men
  NAME                  CITY               FINTIME CHIPTIME AGE 
 1 CONNOR, IAN          JOHNSON CITY TN    0:23:24 0:23:24 25 
 2 CHIRCHIR, ERIC                          0:23:24 0:23:24 20 
 3 NTHIWA, PATRICE      WEST CHESTER PA    0:23:24 0:23:24 21 
 4 MOGAKA, RONALD       ROYERSFORD PA      0:23:33 0:23:33 26 
 5 KURGAT, NICHOLAS                        0:23:38 0:23:38 25 
 6 BIWOTT, TIMON        CHAPEL HILL NC     0:23:47 0:23:47 24 
 7 ROUNTREE, FREDERICK  RESTON VA          0:24:44 0:24:44 26 
 8 HINTON, JOHN         CHAPEL HILL NC     0:25:05 0:25:05 42 
 9 RHUE, KEVIN          RICHMOND VA        0:25:21 0:25:21 23 
10 SINCLAIR, MATT       GLEN ALLEN VA      0:25:30 0:25:30 23



Top 10 Women
 1 WANJIKU, TERESA      ROYERSFORD PA      0:26:22 0:26:22 30  
 2 GEBREGIORGIS, GENET  BRONX NY           0:26:23 0:26:23 29 
 3 DENISOVA, LYUBOV     WEST CHESTER PA    0:26:23 0:26:23 33 
 4 MCGRANAHAN, ANN      NEWPORT VA         0:26:36 0:26:36 25 
 5 NERVO, TRISH         SALEM VA           0:27:05 0:27:04 26 
 6 BAUER, CHERYL        RICHMOND VA        0:28:31 0:28:26 23 
 7 MABE, JOAN NESBIT    CHAPEL HILL NC     0:29:05 0:29:05 42 
 8 LINDSAY, MICHELLE    BLACKSBURG VA      0:30:42 0:30:40 20 
 9 WHALEY, BRIANA       RICHMOND VA        0:31:19 0:31:16 26 
10 PLYLER, VALERIE      NEWPORT NEWS VA    0:31:37 0:31:35 45 

See the event Press Release

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