Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

Keflezighi, Tulu capture NYC Marathon titles

Meb Keflezighi became the first American male winner of the New York City Marathon in more than 20 years and Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu ended Paula Radcliffe's two-year reign on the women's side.

Keflezighi finished in a time of two hours, nine minutes and 15 seconds, beating Kenya's Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot by 41 seconds to become the first American man to win the title since Ibrahim Hussein in 1987.

"It's great," said Keflezighi. "The Big Apple has been good to me. It can't get any better."

Tulu, meanwhile, won the women's title in a time of 2:28:52, edging 2000 champion Ludmila Petrova of Russia by just eight seconds. Petrova was also second last year. Radcliffe, who had won the past two titles and three of the last five, finished fourth, 35 seconds off the pace.

"I wasn't able to run the last two legs because I had a pain in my tendon," said Radcliffe. "I had a jab in it. I really thought it was going to be okay. But I knew I was fit coming in. It felt great, then at 11 miles it just went. For the last miles I was just thinking just hang in there as long as I could. Just try to stay with them."

Keflezighi was a silver medalist in the 2004 Olympics. Sunday's victory marked his first career major marathon crown after finishing second in New York in 2004 and third in 2005.

The 34-year-old native of Eritrea, located on Red Sea coast of Africa, became a U.S. citizen in 1998.

Cheruiyot, a four-time Boston Marathon winner who finished fourth in 2005 in his lone previous New York Marathon, couldn't keep up with Keflezighi in the final two miles.

Jaouad Gharib of Morocco finished third, while American Ryan Hall was fourth. Six American men finished in the top 10.

"It was just a wonderful day for myself and the rest of the American guys," stated Keflezighi. "Ryan and I are teammates. We train together a lot of times."

Tulu was third in her lone previous New York Marathon appearance in 2005. She won the London Marathon in 2001.

"Paula is someone with whom I have competed a great many times," said Tulu. "I have beaten her on the track and cross country. But in the marathon, let alone to beat her, I have never even been able to run very far with her. The most I think I've been able to keep up with her is 10 to 15 kilometers. So I had always hoped that I would one day finish close to her. In today's race I was disappointed to see her falling back and struggling."

The top American woman was Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who finished sixth.