Moscow International Half Marathon winner Yulia Gromova (r) with her coach (© Yelena Kurdyumova/Sergey Porada)
Moscow, Russia Competing in near ideal conditions, Yulia Gromova, cruised to a 1:10:49 course record at the 16th Moscow International Half Marathon on Saturday.
A strong women’s field promised tough competition. Gromova, 33, who finished second in last month’s Los Angeles Marathon in 2:34:12, led the women’s pack from the start. Her main rival was Lyubov Morgunova, 23, winner of the 2008 Rotterdam Marathon (2:25:12), just three weeks ago on 13 April. Small in stature, Morgunova is a formidable presence on the course.
Gromova built her lead, gradually and steadily leaving Morgunova behind, to finish unchallenged, almost two minutes ahead of the runner up, in front of the beautiful St. Basil’s Cathedral, famous symbol of the Russian capital.
“It was the first time I ran this half marathon, and I was afraid of Morgunova, who already showed good results this year,” said Gromova. “However, I liked the course very much and the weather was fine. This helped me to win. This race was control training for me before the San Diego Marathon.”
Larisa Zyuz’ko, the runner-up at last month’s Roma Marathon (2:28:18), challenged Morgunova and Stepanova for a while, but finally let them go and finished fourth.
In the men’s race, a lead pack of six ran together throughout, taking turns with the lead. Aleksey Khohlov took the win in 1:05:52.
More than 500 participants, including 80 runners from 16 countries lined up for the noon start to complete the two 10 km loop course along the bank of Moskva River through the city’s downtown. The Half Marathon course follows a part of the course used for the 1980 Olympic Games.
Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada for the IAAF
Leading Results:
WOMEN -
1. Yulia Gromova RUS 1:10:49
2. Lyubov Morgunova RUS 1:12:43
4. Lyudmila Stepanova RUS 1:14:53
5. Larisa Zyuz’ko RUS 1:16:12
6. Elena Marsova RUS 1:16:58
7. Zinaida Semenova RUS 1:17:08
MEN -
1. Aleksey Khohlov RUS 1:05:52
2. Victor Tremasov RUS 1:06:03
3. Oleg Knyagin RUS 1:06:15
4. Artem Ekimov RUS 1:06:23
5. Andrey Smirnov RUS 1:06:33
6. Maksim Karamyshev RUS 1:07:26
