Tune, Cheruiyot take marathon wins, national half marathon titles for Carney, O'Neill in Houston

Ethiopian Tire Dune and David Cheruiyot of Kenya took top honours at the Chevron Houston Marathon while James Carney and Kate O'Neill took the respective men's and women's titles at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston on Sunday (13).

Tune, 22, set a course record of 2:24:40 to defend her own title, and knock more than two minutes from her own previous course record of 2:26:52. Her countrywoman Worknesh Tola was a distant second in 2:35:38.

Cheruiyot, a two time winner, took his third Houston win in four years, clocking 2:12:32. Kasime Adilo of Ethiopia was 2:12:53.

National Half Marathon titles for Carney, O'Neill

Carney's time of 1:02:21 earned him his first USA championship win while O'Neill also won her first national title in 1:11:57. The men's and women's championships were hosted for the second consecutive year by the Aramco Houston Half Marathon.

Though the 36th annual event started under ideal conditions with clear skies and a temperature of 48 degrees, the leaders passed the first mile in a relaxed 5:05 before Carney, Jason Lehmkuhle, and Ryan Kirkpatrick took charge of the field, leading the field through the second mile in 4:33.

The trio gradually extended a lead over the chase pack that included two-time champion Dan Browne and Steve Sundell. As they approached six miles, Carney and Lehmkuhle opened a gap on Kirkpatrick, and just past seven miles Carney took command of the lead and steadily pulled away from Lehmkuhle.

Passing 10 miles in 47:11, Carney had built the 11-second lead that he would maintain to the finish. Sundell would go on to catch Kirkpatrick for a third-place finish in 1:03:21. Fernando Cabada and Patrick Gildea completed the top five, running 1:03:41 and 1:03:43 respectively.

In the women's race, O'Neill wasted no time staking her claim to the title, taking the lead at 5 km and holding on for a 13 second win. Desiree Davila steadily worked her way through the top women, moving from seventh place at eight miles to take the runner-up spot in 1:12:10. Serena Burla finished in third, running 1:12:22, and Nicole Aish and Kristen Nicolini Lehmkuhle rounded out the top-five in 1:12:30 and 1:12:58 respectively.

The championships featured a total prize purse of $59,500 with $12,000 going to the respective men's and women's champions.