Buzunesh Deba improves to 2:27:23 in Minneapolis (© Yelena Kurdyumova & Sergey Porada)
Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia cruised to an overwhelming victory at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis on Sunday (3).
The 23-year-old Deba, who is based in the Bronx, New York, clocked 2:27:23 to win the women's race by nearly eight minutes over Russian Svetlana Ponomarenko, who reached the finish in 2:35:21. The victory was the third in as many marathons this year for Deba, who took victories in Jacksonville, Florida, in February and at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth in June. It was also a massive improvement for Deba whose previous best was 2:31:35 set in Duluth.
A prolific road racer, Deba won this year's Healthy Kidney 10-K in New York in May, along with Half Marathon titles in Naples, Florida and Fairfield, Connecticut, the former with a 1:12:50 career best.
With national title, Reyes secures team slot for Daegu 2011
The men's marathon, which served as the U.S. men's national championships, saw six personal best performances in the top-ten. David Jankowski and Seth Pilkington take the early pace, maintaining a 400 metro lead as they passed the half in 1:06:43. A chase pack that included Sergio Reyes, Jeff Eggleston and 2008 national champion Fernando Cabada began to close the gap.
Jankowski pulled away from Pilkington at around 14 miles but was overtaken by the chase pack by the 25th kilometre as the race was down to three men. As the trio climbed the hills into St. Paul, Reyes and Eggleston looked easy as Cabada began to struggle just after 22 miles.
Reyes and Eggleston continued to duel until 23 miles when Reyes made his move to drop his final rival and cruised to the finish in 2:14:02 for his first U.S. title and a spot on Team USA for the 2011 World Championships Marathon. Eggleston took the runner-up position in 2:14:09, also earning a spot on the U.S. team for next year's World Championships in Daegu. Cabada rounded out the top-three in 2:15:25, as Jankowski held on for fourth in 2:16:15. Reyes took home $25,000 for the win.
Elsewhere, Katie McGregor won the national 10 Mile title, her seventh career title, in 54:21.
Jim Estes (USATF) and Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
Leading Results:
WOMEN -
1. BUZUNESH DEBA, ETH 2:27:23
2. SVETLANA PONOMARENKO, RUS 2:35:23
3. SERKALEM ABRHA, ETH 2:36:16
4. ALENA VINITSKAYA, BLR 2:36:31
5. GALINA ALEXANDROVA, RUS 2:38:21
6. WIOLETTA KRYZA, POL 2:40:35
7. VALENTINA CALIMOVA, RUS 2:41:26
MEN -
1. SERGIO REYES, USA 2:14:02
2. JEFFREY EGGLESTON, USA 2:14:09
3. FERNANDO CABADA, USA 2:15:25
4. DAVID JANKOWSKI, USA 2:16:15
5. DREW SHACKLETON, USA 2:16:31
Click here for full RESULTS
