The goodie bag that runners in the 3M Half Marathon receive is unparalleled for its useful, fun stuff. But the goodies that 3M dished out on Sunday morning were even better.
With near-perfect conditions (44 degrees at the start, a gentle breeze), a record field of 5346 witnessed one of the best days in Austin racing. PRs fell all over the fast, downhill course and the elite field contributed to a spectacular morning of racing.
The first three men finished within four seconds of each other and Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi won an amazing duel by just one second over Scottish star Andrew Lemoncello in 1:03:12 with Derese Deniboba of Ethiopia in third in 1:03:16. The winning times didn’t quite match the quality of the racing that had no fewer than 10 men battling it out until the 12th mile when Lemoncello and Harroufi busted it open.
"I wanted to run 1:01 this morning, but the early part of the race was too slow," said the 26-year-old Harroufi who lives in Albuquerque and won the Dallas White Rock Half last month in 1:03:03. "By 10-K {reached in 31:18}, I knew it wasn’t possible to run a fast time today so I decided to just use my speed at the end."
Lemoncello, who lives in Flagstaff, moved first as the huge pack flew down Duval. "The pace lagged, but I tried to shake things up with 5-K to go. I pushed it as hard as I could, but just didn’t have another gear to catch Harroufi."
Nobody did. Although the winning time was nowhere near the event record of 1:01:16, the excitement of seeing as many as men duking it out overcame the sluggish time. In all 10 men, dipped under 1:05 with defending champion Alene Ruta of Ethiopia coming in eighth in 1:04:50.
Hanging onto the back of the lead pack for 10 miles was Austin’s Bernard Manirakiza who was hoping to better his PR of 1:03 which he set in this race two years ago on the traditional course which finished at House Park. Manirakiza, who is just rounding into racing form, got gapped right at the beginning and languished between 13th and 15th before pounding the second half of the course (he had the eighth fastest split) to finish in a laudable 1:04:58, good for 10th.
"I felt like I could have done a little better," said the native of Burundi, "but I didn’t have the leg turnover. The first part of the race wasn’t fast and it should have felt easier to me, but I haven’t competed enough recently with runners like these guys."
Even though the men put on a great show, the day clearly belonged to the women. Front and center were Jacqueline Nyetepi, a 24-year-old Kenyan who lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico and Argentinian Claudia Camargo, a 35-year-old who now lives in Danbury, Connecticut.
The two faced off right from the gun outside the Gateway Shopping Center in north Austin and went toe-to-toe all the way to the finish on Trinity, near downtown. Nyetepi, who won the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon in December November in 1:11:46, absolutely blistered the 3M course to win a drag race with Camargo and Hyvon Ngetich of Kenya.
Nyetepi waited until to Trinity to outgun Camargo in the final 600 meters to win in 1:09:32 which bettered the event record of 1:09:52, set by Sylvia Mosqueda in ’04. Camargo also broke the record as she settled for second in 1:09:42 with Ngetich two seconds back of her.
The women’s race was of such a high caliber that defending champ Kathy Butler ran 17 seconds quicker than last year and yet was a distant fifth in 1:10:55. "We went through 10-K in 33 minutes," said Butler, "and I knew this was going to be crazy."
Crazy fast. The top American was Deeja Youngquist of Albuquerque who placed eighth in 1:15:10. Finishing just outside the top 10 was Chris Kimbrough of Austin who still PR’ed in 1:15:38. As an example of just how deep the field was on Sunday, Kimbrough finished fifth last year in 1:15:39.
"I felt consistent out there," said the 38-year-old Kimbrough who is training for the Olympic Trials Marathon in April. "My second half was a little slower than I wanted, but overall it was a good effort."
Not faring quite as well as Kimbrough was Austin’s Desiree Ficker who was third last year in a PR of 1:14:10. After the race on Sunday, Ficker wasn’t making any excuses for her desultory 1:17:06, but a 22-mile run last weekend clearly played a factor. Still, Ficker put a positive spin on the morning, "I’m happy. I would have liked to run a little faster, but I’m putting a lot of miles in right now {for the Olympic Trials Marathon} and felt it."
Masters times were particularly impressive. Heading the field was 40-year-old Nikolay Kerimov who ran 1:07, followed by 47-year-old Paul Zimmerman of Cedar Creek in a superb 1:07:16 with Ernesto Caballero third in 1:09:56.
The masters women were led, once again, by 43-year-old Albina Gallyamova in 1:16:27 with Lisa Goldsmith of Nederland, Colorado second in 1:21:18 and our own Cindy Salazar, 43, in a stunning 1:26:08 that comes right on the heels of a masters victory at the Philadelphia Half in November in 1:27:19. (What’s gotten into this gal?)
Locals fared well in several of the age groups. Lisa Preeg took the 40-44 women in 1:28:43 (the elite masters didn’t count in the standings) and Barry Trickey won the men’s 40-44 in 1:17:21 with Scott Birk second. Michael Woo paced the 45-49 men in 1:16:23.
The Wonder from Down Under, 52-year-old Keith Dowland continued to defy Father Time as he ran a brilliant 1:14:27 to easily win the 50-54s in a clocking that was 90 seconds faster than he ran last year at 3M. Denny Weiler won the 55-59 in 1:26:49 with John La Claire second.
But the most astounding time of the day had to go to 61-year-old Alberto Emiliano of Wimberly who ran 1:24:09 (6:25 pace) to hand Houston’s Ben Harvie (second in 1:26:10) a rare age-group loss.
This was the fifth race in the RunTex Distance Challenge. All that’s left in this year’s series is the big enchilada: The AT&T Austin Marathon on February 17th.
