Nyariki, Ndereba Win Inaugural NYC Half-Marathon presented by NIKE – By Jim Gerweck, Running USA wire

Never mind that all 10,000 slots were filled the day entries opened in June. The question remained as to whether the event would be a competitive and logistical success. After all, running through Times Square, in the heart of Manhattan, figured to be a challenge, even early on the last Sunday in August, when most New Yorkers desert their city for one last pre-Labor Day escape.

Those who stayed behind were treated to thrilling races from the men and the women, the finish of the latter division turning into almost a carbon copy of last year’s ING New York City Marathon.

This time, it was Catherine Ndereba answering the closing kick of Benita Johnson, while in the men’s division Thomas Nyariki continued his short but successful summer on the U.S. roads by besting Americans Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman. And the 10,294 runners who followed them were treated to a course that took them on an ambulatory tour of Manhattan’s sightseeing must-sees, from Carnegie Hall to Ground Zero, in weather more typical of mid-autumn than late August.

The skies were cool and overcast with a threat of rain that eventually materialized a little more than an hour into the race, but it couldn’t dampen the spirits of those who awoke before dawn to assemble to run a little more than a loop of Central Park before exiting onto Seventh Avenue for the run down to Battery Park. By this point, the men’s race had already been whittled down to the final top three, who took turns pushing the pace down the West Side Highway into a chilly (for August) headwind.

„We were kind of working together,“ said Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. „Whoever felt good would take the lead for a while.“

With just under a kilometer to go, it was obviously Nyariki who felt best, as he dropped first two-time Olympian Abdirahman, then 2004 Olympic silver medalist Keflezighi over the final straightaway. The trio, who were all making their debuts over the half-marathon distance (13.1 miles), finished in that order in 1 hour, 1 minute, 22 seconds, 1:01:28 (#3 U.S. individual all-time) and 1:01:34 (#6 U.S. individual all-time).

It was Nyariki’s second win in three races (after a win at Beach to Beacon 10K and runner-up spot at Falmouth), his first attempt at the distance, and an exclamation point to an amazing comeback story.

Three years ago, Nyariki was the victim of a carjacking that cost him the sight in his right eye. As a result, running became difficult for a man who had won a World Championships bronze medal and run 12:55 for 5000 meters.

„It was hard to judge when my foot would hit the ground, so balancing was difficult.“ He considered retirement but stuck with it, finally getting in shape enough to place second at Beach to Beacon last year. Still, Nyariki admitted there was as much surprise as joy in his recent accomplishments, given his relatively ripe age of 34. „I want to run a good marathon, then maybe one or two more years and that’s it,“ he said.

The women’s race featured three runners in the midst of build-ups for fall marathons – Johnson and Constantina Tomescu-Dita, prepping for Chicago, and Ndereba, who will return to New York for a full 26-mile tour of all five boroughs in November. Dita was the early leader in the park and down Seventh Avenue, before Ndereba caught her on 42nd Street. The four-time Boston Marathon champion seemed to be cruising to an easy victory when Johnson began cutting into her lead, finally drawing alongside with less than 50 meters to go. Finding another gear, Ndereba pulled away, to the narrowest of wins, both of them timed in 1:09:43 after rounding (just 3/10ths of a second separating the pair).

„I thought I’d timed my kick pretty well, but obviously it was a little early,“ said Johnson. Tomescu-Dita was third in 1:10:11, while American Colleen De Reuck, 42, placed fifth in 1:11:48, the fourth fastest masters clocking ever for the distance and just seven seconds off the world best. Each champion took home $10,000.

„I’m pleased with the way things came out,“ said Wittenberg, adding that she felt this event had the potential to become as big as the organization’s flagship marathon race. „The half-marathon distance seems to be the hot growth segment of the racing world right now, and this shows New York will be right in the forefront.“

With over 10,000 finishers, the race was the third largest debut annual half-marathon ever behind the 2004 P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n‘ Roll Arizona and the 2001 Rock ’n‘ Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach.

Inaugural NYC Half-Marathon presented by NIKE
New York, NY, Sunday, August 27, 2006

MEN
1) Tom Nyariki, Kenya, 1:01:22, $10,000
2) Meb Keflezighi, CA/USA, 1:01:28, $7500
3) Abdi Abdirahman, AZ/USA, 1:01:34, $5000
4) Mohamed Amyn, Morocco, 1:02:11, $3000
5) Demesse Tefera, Ethiopia, 1:03:17, $1500
6) Worku Beyi, Ethiopia, 1:03:41
7) Andrew Letherby, Australia, 1:03:46
8) Alan Culpepper, CO/USA, 1:04:07
9) Kassahun Kabiso, Ethiopia, 1:05:31
10) Alirio Carrasco, NY/USA, 1:06:25

WOMEN
1) Catherine Ndereba, Kenya, 1:09:43, $10,000
2) Benita Johnson, Australia, 1:09:43, $7500
3) Constantina Tomescu-Dita, Romania, 1:10:11, $5000
4) Yuri Kano, Japan, 1:11:44, $3000
5) Colleen De Reuck, 42, CO/USA, 1:11:48, $1500
6) Claudia Camargo, Argentina, 1:13:39
7) Aziza Aliyu, Ethiopia, 1:15:18
8) Sopagna Eap, OR/USA, 1:17:22
9) Sharon Lemberger, CT/USA, 1:19:43
10) Leteyesus Berhe, Ethiopia, 1:21:05

Complete results and more at:
www.NYRR.org

Source:
www.runningusa.org