Grace Momanyi of Kenya wins the Ottawa 10km in 31:24 (© Victah Sailer)
With high humidity keeping the ING Ottawa Marathon race times slower than expected – David Cheruyiot of Kenya won the men’s event in 2:14:20, and Lidia Vassilievskaya of Russia, the women’s in 2:31:53 – Grace Momanyi proved the star of the National Capital Race Weekend in Canada.
Women 10km
Momanyi, 24, of Kenya pulverised the record in the women’s section of the two MDS Nordion 10km races. Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco was the big favourite, and after she, Momanyi and defending champion, Aster Demissie of Ethiopia had tracked surprisingly close to the men during the opening kilometres, it was the Moroccan who broke away to lead the women’s race at 5k in 15:28, with Momanyi on 15:40.
The Kenyan made an effort to close in the next kilometre, but the gap stayed the same until the last kilometre, when a sustained final effort by Momanyi took her past Leghzaoui with just 200 metres to run.
Momanyi swept to victory in 31:24, smashing the 16-year-old course record of Albertina Dias or Portugal by 47 seconds. Leghzaoui was second in 31:28, and a second Kenyan, Teresa Wanjiku passed Demissie, but was a distant third in 32:33.
The winner, who is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said, “We were running with the men until 2k, then Asmae broke away. I couldn't keep the pace. I tried to pass after one kilometre, but she wouldn't let me get ahead. I noticed the pace was constant. It wasn't increasing. I thought, I can catch up, I had hope I could catch up. At 7k I saw she didn't keep the pace up. I tried again at 200 metres (from the finish), and it worked”. Momanyi next races at Peachtree, while Leghzaoui goes for the Freihofer’s Run.
MEN 10km
The men’s 10km was more straightforward, George Kirwa Misoi, also of Kenya pulling gradually away from the field, to win by 100 metres in 28:56. The best scrap was for second place, with pre-race favourite, another Kenyan, Reuben Chebii just edging Burundian, Jean-Claude Nduwingona by a stride and a second, in 29:08.
MARATHON
Men
The men’s race in the ING Ottawa Marathon was highly competitive, although not fast, until the 35k mark, when Cheruyiot put in a burst that the other half dozen men with him couldn’t match. There had been eleven men together at halfway, reached in 66:30, with the contenders later blaming the high humidity for their cautious running, rather than going for the intended 64:40 ‘half’.
Nevertheless, when Cheruyiot abandoned caution at 35k, there was no one to match him, and he ran out an easy winner, albeit three minutes outside the course record. His colleague, John Itati was second in 2:14:47, and Danny Kassap of Democratic Republic of Congo was third in 2:15:13.
Women
Ludmila Kortchagina failed to defend her title, but the Toronto resident having acquired her Canadian citizenship (formerly Russian) just two days prior, she was happy enough to win her first ‘new’ national title, in second place.
She can have no complaints though, because her former colleague, Vassilevskaya was the only one to follow the pacemaker, who took her through 25k at 2:28 pace. Had she maintained that, she would have got close to the course record of 2:30:37, by Sylvia Ruegger in 1984, but the strain of being by hereslf for close to 30k told, and she was eventually over a minute down on the record, with 2:31:53.
Kortchagina did close in the latter stages of the race, after she dropped her new colleague, Nicole Stevenson (also from Toronto). But it wasn’t sufficiently soon or fast enough to challenge Vassilevskaya, and Kortchagina finished second on 2:32:19, with Stevenson third in 2:38:50.
Pat Butcher for the IAAF
MDS NORDION 10K
WOMEN
1 Grace Momanyi KEN 31:24
2 Asmae Leghzaoui MOR 31:28
3 Teresa Wanjiku KEN 32:33
4 Aster Demissie ETH 33:11
5 Lisa Harvey CAN 33:54
6 Anastasia Ndereba KEN 34:17
7 Leah Pells CAN 34:39
8 Tania Jones CAN 35:42
9 Mimi Fallon USA 35:54
10 Rebecca Stallwood CAN 36:01
MEN
1 George Kirwa Misoi KEN 28:56
2 Reuben Chebii KEN 29:08
3 Jean-Claude Nduwingona BUR 29:09
4 Simon Wangai KEN 29:15
5 Nelson Kiplagat KEN 29:27
6 Gilbert Koech KEN 29:32
7 Gittah Macharia KEN 29:41
8 El Arbi Khattabi MOR 29:49
9 Abel Ondeyo KEN 29:51
10 Jeremy Deere CAN 30:16
ING OTTAWA MARATHON
MEN
1 David Cheruyiot KEN 2:14:20
2 John Itati KEN 2:14:47
3 Danny Kassap D.R CONGO 2:15:13
4 Joseph Nderitu KEN 2:16:21
5 Elly Rono KEN 2:16:47
6 Noah Kipsang Talam KEN 2:17:51
7 Jim Finlayson CAN 2:18:21
8 Ryan Day CAN 2:19:55
9 Matthew McInnes CAN 2:21:45
10 Joseph Nsengiyumva RWANDA 2:22:38
WOMEN
1 Lidia Vassilevskaya RUS 2:31:53
2 Lioudmila Kortchagina CAN 2:32:19
3 Nicole Stevenson CAN 2:38:50
4 Natalia Volgina RUS 2:43:25
5 Tina Kader CAN 2:55:07
6 Michelle Schuler CAN 2:56:14
7 Emily Bryans USA 2:57:19
8 Heather Goodfellow CAN 2:57:41
9 Kim House CAN 2:57:44
10 Stephanie Hodge CAN 2:58:04
