Sergio Reyes (pictured right) won this morning's national marathon championship at the Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota. Reyes took almost 90 seconds off his previous PR by running 2:14:02. Reyes broke away from Jeffrey Eggleston in the 24th mile; Eggleston held on well to finish second in 2:14:09. Fernando Cabada, the 2008 champion here, was third in 2:15:25 after losing contact with Reyes and Eggleston in the 22nd mile.
Buzunesh Deba (pictured below) scored a massive PR while winning the women's race in 2:27:24. The 23-year-old Ethiopian also won Minnesota's Grandma's Marathon in June, the first woman to win both in the same year. Russia's Svetlana Ponomarenko, age 40, pulled ahead of Ethiopian Serkalem Abrha in the second half to finish 2nd in 2:35:23. Abrha, who won the Oasis de Montreal Marathon four weeks ago, hung on to third in 2:36:16.
As it has so often, the Twin Cities Marathon also hosted the men's and women's national masters championships. Mbarak Hussein (pictured below, right), born in Kenya but a U.S. citizen for over five years now, placed 7th overall in the men's race to easily win the masters title. His 2:16:58 put him exactly 10 minutes up on the second master, Carl Rundell. Matt Sanderock was third master in 2:27:23.
Susan Lokken, who won the national masters title from 2005 through 2007, added a fourth championship today at age 47 in 2:44:43. Tamara Karrh, who will be featured in our November issue, placed second 9 seconds back. Meghan Abrogast was third American master in 2:45:48.
The top three men worked together to catch early leader David Jankowski, who finished 4th in 2:16:14, just past the 17-mile mark. "I was focused on not having too much confidence early on," Reyes said. "There were a few corners between 17 and 23 where I would start to get in front, and I would pull back." Cabada fell back after 35K. At 23.5 miles, "I thought, 'Now I'm in a good position to push to the finish,'" said Reyes.
Reyes runs for the Asics Aggies and is coached by frequent Running Times contributor Joe Rubio. From the no-excuses/get-'er-done department: Reyes works 40-45 hours a week as a flight test engineer at the Palmdale, Calif., airport, and spends another 10 hours a week commuting.
It's unclear here from the finish at Twin Cities whether Hussein's time will be an American masters record. Eddy Hellebuyck, with 2:12:46 at this race in 2003, is still listed in some places as the record holder, although he was subsequently suspended for performance-enhancing drugs. Elsewhere, Kenneth Judson's 2:17:02 is accepted as the record. There's no doubt that Hussein's time today is well under the previous 45-49 mark of 2:22:58.
Drew Shackleton, half of a pair of twins racing today, placed 5th in the open race in a PR of 2:16:14. Trent Briney, who placed 4th at the 2004 Olympic marathon trials, was 8th today in 2:17:15. Running Times blogger Mike Wardian ran 2:21:17.
ShareThis