Friday, 8 July 2016
Kenyan Kipkoech Ruto wins Pittsburgh Marathon; places Americans third
If there’s one thing Kipkoech Ruto knew Sunday morning
after winning the 2016 Pittsburgh Marathon, it was that he wants to come back
next year.
Ruto, a first-time Pittsburgh runner from Kenya, took
the perfect route for much of the 26.2 miles through the city to capture the
gold medal for the men’s marathon with a time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 26
seconds.
“I’m feeling very good that I won,” he said on the
medal stand after receiving his $8,000 prize.
With rain falling for the first half of the race, Ruto,
27, built a sizable lead before Werkuneh Seyoum Aboye of Ethiopia finally got
within striking distance. Aboye, 31, even caught up to Ruto and took the lead
between the 20th- and 21st-mile markers, but Ruto had conserved enough energy
to kick down the stretch and pull away for a victory by more than a minute.
“I decided to relax,” Ruto said with a smile. “I was
thinking about the finishing line.”
He glanced over his shoulder several times as Aboye
made his move to catch up and give rowdy onlookers from Bloomfield to the Strip
District a two-man race to watch.
“The Kenyan was very fast, and this course is up, down,
up, down,” said Aboye, who moved one rung up the ladder after placing third
last year. “I just pushed.”
Tyler Jermann, 23, a distance runner in college at Iowa
State University, was the top American finisher and took third overall. This
was Jermann’s fourth marathon, but the other three — in Chicago, Houston and
Los Angeles — were “pancake-flat” compared to Pittsburgh’s hills. He took a
conservative approach and wasn’t “too beat up” at the end of an enjoyable trek
through town.
In the men’s half-marathon, Julius Kogo held off a
fellow Kenyan and 2015 champion, Kimutai Cheruiyot, by 16 seconds to win in
1:03:13. Kogo won the half in 2013, but took second to Cheruiyot last year.
Etaferahu Temesgen of Ethiopia won this year’s women’s half in 1:13:08, topping
2015 gold medalist Susan Jerotich of Kenya.
May 1, 2016
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