New York, USA - Kevin Sullivan arrived at his hotel in New York at 10 a.m. and was the first to finish at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, winning the men’s race in 3:54.1. The 32-year-old Canadian hopped a flight from Indianapolis to New York at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning after helping his wife, an assistant coach at the University of Illinois, prepare her team for a cross country meet at Notre Dame. A week prior, he was competing in China.

“This is the first time I’ve tried flying in on the day of the race,” said Sullivan. “I may try it for all my races now.” 

Sullivan won the race in the final 200 metres, edging out New Zealand’s Nick Willis (3:54.7) and American Matt Tegenkamp (3:54.8).

“I’m somewhat surprised,” said Sullivan.  “I didn’t know how the travel was going to affect me, not only coming in this morning, but coming in from China just six days ago. I learned last year that I went out a little too conservative, so I just decided to stick my nose in early on and whatever happened, happened, after that mile, but I wanted to make sure that I was up and in the mix and if I was feeling good then hopefully do something special in the last hundred.”

Kenyan Elkanah Angwenyi led for nearly the entire first half of the race.  Sullivan stayed nearby on his right and Tegenkamp was close by on his left.  At the three-quarter mark, Anthony Famiglietti made a move and others started to surge, like Willis, Adam Goucher and Aleksandr Skvortsov of Russia. Angwenyi ended up 12th with a time of 4:02.8.

Hall wins in final sprint as well

The women’s race also came down to the final 200 metres, with American Sara Hall winning it in a time of 4:28.0. New Zealand’s Kim Smith was second in 4:30.3, while Erin Donohue made a bold move at the end to finish third with a time of 4:31.7.

“We went out pretty fast,” said Hall.  “I just wanted to tuck in because it was pretty windy, so I did that and tried to stay as relaxed as possible.  I knew once I made a move, I just wanted to go without looking back and go where I knew I wouldn’t be passed back.”

Americans Lauren Fleshman and Carrie Tollefson challenged Smith early in the race, but at the halfway mark, Hall had worked her way into second.

“Kim (Smith) was obviously running really strong and Erin (Donohue), too, so I just kind of wanted to use their momentum and go with them,” said Hall.  “When I made my move, I wanted to make it big, swing a little wide just so it would be harder to respond.  Once I saw the 200-hundred-to-go-mark, I just tried to picture on a track how usually that’s my cue.”

Sullivan and Hall each won $4,000 and 70,000 Continental Airlines OnePass Miles for winning the 2006 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile.  Prize money was also awarded to the next four finishers on both the men’s and women’s sides.

“It was a highly-competitive men’s race and while the women’s race was a little bit of a changing of the guard with Sara Hall winning it, I think the men’s race was exactly the opposite where one of the longest-running athletes our sport has at the top of track and field, Kevin Sullivan, came in for the win,” said Mary Wittenberg, CEO and president of New York Road Runners, the race organisers. “To have three guys finish within six tenths of a second is exactly what we would have hoped for.”

Results:
MEN -
 1. Kevin Sullivan, 32, Canada, 3:54.1
 2. Nick Willis, 23, New Zealand, 3:54.7
 3. Matt Tegenkamp, 24, United States, 3:54.8
 4. Adam Goucher, 31, United States, 3:55.1
 5. Anthony Famiglietti, 27, United States, 3:55.5
 6. Aleksandr Skvortsov, 31, Russia, 3:57.5
 7. Grant Robison, 28, United States, 3:57.7
 8. Gabe Jennings, 27, United States, 3:58.5
 9. Hunter Spencer, 26, United States, 3:59.2
10. Nate Brannen, 24, Canada, 3:59.4
11. Jason Lunn, 32, United States, 4:02.4
12. Elkanah Angwenyi, 23, Kenya, 4:02.8
13. James Thie, 28, Great Britain, 4:06.4

WOMEN -
 1. Sara Hall, 23, United States, 4:28.0
 2. Kim Smith, 24, New Zealand, 4:30.3
 3. Erin Donohue, 23, United States, 4:31.7
 4. Carrie Tollefson, 29, United States, 4:32.5
 5. Roisin McGettigan, 26, Ireland, 4:33.5
 6. Lauren Fleshman, 25, United States, 4:35.1
 7. Janelle Deatherage, 29, United States, 4:36.4
 8. Marina Muncan, 23, Serbia, 4:36.9
 9. Claudia Camargo, 35, Argentina, 4:42.8
10. Megan Metcalfe, 24, Canada, 4:43.4
11. Yelena Kanales, 30, Russia, 5:10.5

Kerrin Perniciaro for the IAAF