Women's Champion Denisova Sets Course Record

LOS ANGELES - The men evened the score at the 20th City of Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday morning as Kenyan Mark Saina won his first major marathon and the second Challenge - a men vs. women handicap race - in 2:09:35. In an exciting race, Saina, 34, passed women's leader and eventual women's champion Lyubov Denisova of Russia just past mile 25 and later countryman Ben Maiyo in the final stretch to win the race with the second fastest time in race history.

Under hazy skies, relative calm and temperatures in the mid-50s, the elite women took off 15 minutes and 50 seconds ahead of the elite men and the rest of the 25,000 plus entrants. The handicap differential was determined by past LA Marathon winning times and the relative strength of the elite fields (last year's differential was 20:30).

Over the 26.2 mile course, the men needed to run approximately 36 seconds a mile faster than the women in order to catch them before the finish line. At 5 miles, the women's differential lead was cut to 12:15 (12:50 would have kept them even or in other words, the men, at that point, led The Challenge by 35 seconds).

Hellen Kimutai of Kenya and Dire Tune of Ethiopia pushed the women's pace thereafter as they rattled off 5:30-40 miles thru 18 miles, but the trailing men's pack extended their Challenge lead to over 40 seconds by running 5:00 minute miles or faster. By now, the sun was shining brightly with temperatures warming to the mid-60s.

At 19 miles, Denisova, the 2002 LA Marathon winner, passed the tired duo and broke away on a solo run to the tape. By 22 miles, she had whittled the men's Challenge lead to 30 seconds (2:08 vs. the projected linear 2:38), but after this point, the men led by Ben Maiyo's back-to-back sub-5 minute miles including a 4:46 24th mile re-established the 40 plus second Challenge cushion.

Just before 25 miles, Maiyo passed the determined Denisova with Saina in their slipstream. With a definitive surge, Saina caught Maiyo as the pair turned down the final home stretch and he went unchallenged to the line in 2:09:35 with his countryman 10 seconds back.

"I felt that I would win in the last mile, but I really did not have a strategy. This was truly a challenge, and I was surprised to see the top woman there so late in the race," said Saina.

With the "double" win, Saina earned $110,000 ($75,000 as Challenge champion, $25,000 as the men's winner and a $10,000 time bonus) and a Honda Accord EX V-6.

Denisova, 33, handily won the women's race in 2:26:11, a new course and California state record (old course and state record, 2:26:23 by Madina Biktagirova in 1992), and she took home $35,000 plus the Honda car. Zivile Balciunaite of Lithuania, who finished third here last year and in 2003, was the second women in 2:28:10.

After the race, Denisova expressed disappointment in finishing third in The Challenge (46 seconds behind) and believed the 15:50 handicap favored the men.

Last year's Challenge champion, the evergreen Tatiana Pozdniakova of the Ukraine - who turned 50 on March 4 - finished 5th in 2:31:05 to set a world 50-54 age group record and ran the fastest marathon time by a woman 50 or older.

20th City of Los Angeles Marathon
Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, March 6, 2005

MEN
1) Mark Saina (KEN), 2:09:35, $110,000 plus Honda Accord EX V-6
2) Ben Maiyo (KEN), 2:09:45, $26,500
3) Laban Kipkemboi (KEN), 2:10:51, $17,500
4) Simon Bor (KEN), 2:12:13, $9,500
5) Wesley Kimutai (KEN), 2:15:22, $6,500
6) Benson Mbithi (KEN), 2:17:48, $5,500
7) Matthew Birir (KEN), 2:19:07, $2,250
8) Bruce Raymer (CAN), 2:22:04, $1,750
9) Motofumi Amano (JPN), 2:24:07, $1,500
10) David Busienei (KEN), 2:24:44, $1,250

WOMEN
1) Lyubov Denisova (RUS), 2:26:11*, $35,000 plus Honda Accord EX V-6
2) Zivile Balciunaite (LIT), 2:28:10, $22,500
3) Hellen Kimutai (KEN), 2:28:36, $18,500
4) Dire Tune, (ETH), 2:30:48, $11,500
5) Tatiana Pozdniakova, 50, (UKR), 2:31:05#, $9,500
6) Anna Pichrtova (CZE), 2:33:02, $6,500
7) Yelena Burykina (RUS), 2:36:14, $4,500
8) Tatiana Titova (RUS), 2:37:51, $3,500
9) Aurica Buia (ROM), 2:40:49, $1,500
10) Malgorzata Jamroz (POL), 2:42:57, $1,250
*course and California state record (old course and state record, 2:26:23 by Madina Biktagirova in 1992)
#world 50-54 age group record (previous record, 2:44:12, Bev Lucas (AUS) in 1997)

For complete results, go to: www.lamarathon.com

source RunningUSA