NEW YORK (27-Jul) -- Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and Tadesse Tola of Ethiopia both won the third edition of the NYC Half-Marathon presented by NIKE here today in convincing fashion. For Ndereba, the course record holder, It was her second victory in this race, which she won in 2006 and again today. In last year's race, she finished second to Kenya's Hilda Kibet. For Tola it was his first win here.
A thunderstorm which commenced just one hour before the 7:00 a.m. start cleared, leaving the conditions relatively cool but very humid. That didn't slow Tola who, along with 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships silver medalist Patrick Makau of Kenya, broke away from the strong field and quickly turned the competition into a two-man race. The two were alone by the 10 km mark and were on a one-hour finish pace.
But, since the key chasers, including American's Dathan Ritzenhein, were more than half a minute back, their pace slowed in the last 5-K as they gathered themselves for the sprint to the finish just north of Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. The pair traded surges in the final meters, but Tola was just a little bit stronger, getting the biggest win of his career in 1:00:58, just one second up on Makau. Ritzenhein, who will contest the Olympic Marathon in Beijing, ran a strong third in 1:01:38, just a little off of his personal best time.
Ndereba had a slightly easier time. She followed the pace being set by compatriot Alice Timbilili, Mexico's Madai Perez and Japan's Yuri Kano, before surging away from them in the final kilometer to win in 1:10:18. Perez, who is bound for the Beijing Olympic Marathon like Ndereba, got second in 1:10:26, much to the delight of coach German Silva. Kano, the winner of last month's Sapporo International Marathon, got third in 1:10:31. Timbilili was fourth.
Both Ndereba and Tola won $10,000 in prize money, part of a $70,000 prize money purse.
Race organizers, New York Road Runners, reported that 10,506 runners finished the race, a race record.
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