Khalid El Boumlili of Morocco, who dropped out midway through the LA Marathon on Monday due to hamstring problems, came back Sunday and breezed to victory in the 12th annual San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.
El Boumlili, who finished third in the Boston Marathon in April, broke away from the pack of 16 runners at the 11-kilometer (7-mile) mark and finished the 42.2-kilometer (26.2-mile) course in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 16 seconds during a cloudy, cool and sometimes misty day.
Samuel Mugo of Kenya was second in 2:12:36, followed by Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia in 2:13:02, Agustus Kavuti of Kenya in 2:13:23 and Oleksandre Sitkovskky of the Ukraine in 2:13:27.
Dan Browne, the top American contender, who will lead the U.S. men's marathon team at the World Championships in August in Berlin, dropped out with right hamstring problems at kilometer 29 (mile 18). "I was taking all my fluids and electrolytes," he said. "I was really cognizant of the fact that this could be warm, this could be the humidity, I need to make sure that I've got my salt in me so I don't dehydrate. Right before mile 18, my hamstring started seizing up and that was it."
Yuliya Gromova of Russia, the defending women's champion, won her second straight San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon with a personal best of 2:27:36. She was in a group at kilometer 18 (mile 11) and broke away from Romania's Nuta Olaru, who had a congestion problem, at kilometer 26 (mile 16). Gromova finished almost two minutes ahead of Hellen Kimutai of Kenya, who was clocked in 2:29:32. Olaru was third in 2:30:40, followed by Russian pair Albina Mayorova (2:31:45) and Albina Gallymova (2:38:35).
El Boumlili and Gromova each took home $25,000 for their wins.
El Boumlili, 31, had not planned to run San Diego. "I wanted to run the LA Marathon," he said. "I had some hamstring problems for a month and then took a week off from training and then prepared for LA. I was among the leaders at mile 18, but my then the (right) hamstring gave out. "It was four days later that I was feeling better that I decided to run in San Diego," El Boumlili said.
El Boumlili grew up in Morocco and worked for the army before coming to America a year ago to take up training. He plans to defend his title next year.
Gromova, who turned 35 on May 21, hopes to return a third straight year and look for her third straight title. "It's a great feeling to come back to the race that you won before," Gromova said through an interpreter. "I ran a conservative first half of the race (1:14:44), but the strategy was to pick up the pace in the second half. I just concentrated on the pace and didn't worry about the other runners."
2009 Rock and Roll Marathon San Diego Results and Photos
El Boumili Is San Digo's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon 2009 Winner
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