Kenya's Paul Tergat Sets Course Record at Rock 'N' Roll Half
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, - (September 1, 2002) - World half-marathon record holder Paul Tergat of Kenya took control of the 2nd Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon with a 4:32 12th mile as the race course turned onto the hotel-lined Virginia Beach boardwalk for the final stretch home.
Posted Sunday, 1 September, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPIRITS SOARED AT THE ROCK 'N' ROLL HALF MARATHON
Kenya's Paul Tergat Sets Course Record, While Mexico's Adriana Fernandez Dominates Women's Field in Personal Record
By Toni Reavis
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, - (September 1, 2002) - World half-marathon record holder Paul Tergat of Kenya took control of the 2nd Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon with a 4:32 12th mile as the race course turned onto the hotel-lined Virginia Beach boardwalk for the final stretch home. His surge broke him free from his final four Kenyan challengers and sealed his first win ever on American soil. With fists clenched, he hit the tape in 61:59, eight seconds up on James Koskei in second. While well off his own 59:17 world record, the 33-year-old Kenyan superstar did break the event's first year course standard by twenty seconds.
"It was very important to win this race," said Tergat afterwards. "Now I know what I need to adjust in my training (for the Chicago Marathon in six weeks), if I need to up it a little or slow some."
The elite men and over 11,000 fellow starters began fifteen minutes after the elite women and followed the consistent lead of pacesetter, Moses Kemboi, who was tasked with a 4:40 per mile average. Nine men remained cabled together as they hit 10K right on target at 29:06. Then at 8 miles, Tergat made a testing move to the front, before drifting back into the group to await the next challenge. At 10 miles last year's runner up John Gwako struck and Tergat quickly answered. Also on the move were hot road racer James Koskei, along with fellow Kenyans Ben Kumatai Kosgei and Gilbert Koech. 2001 Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll Marathon champion John Kagwe failed to hang with Gwako's surge.
"When we came toward the beach I wanted to try my best to pull away," explained Tergat of his winning move. "The course was very good, very flat, and the field was very strong. I did not know who would win until the last two or three miles. Everyone was in good shape."
Gwako's bold move for victory faded suddenly at 11 miles beneath Tergat's pressure and the effects of a strained hamstring. He failed to even finish. James Koskei, a five-time winner on the American road circuit this year, took the $7,000 second prize in his first attempt at the 13.1-mile distance. Kenyan runners took the top nine places with Marco Gielen of the Netherlands in 10th breaking the full Kenyan sweep.
Tergat, the five-time world cross country and two-time world half-marathon champion, had only raced twice before in America, taking the silver medal at the 1996 Olympic 10,000 meters in Atlanta and second again at last year's Chicago Marathon. This year he became the second fastest marathoner of all-time with his 2:05:48 runner up position at the London Marathon in April.
The 15 elite women began their journey fifteen minutes before the men and were still shaking off raindrops after the skies opened in a torrential downpour just minutes before their start. Fortunately, the rain stopped as fast as it had come, leaving the women with nothing more than 20 rock bands and 14 cheer squads between them and the finish line 13.1 miles away.
Perhaps because of the threatening weather, the women began conservatively with defending champion Deena Drossin of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. and veteran American road racer Sylvia Mosqueda of Los Angeles leading the pack through opening miles of 5:31, 5:32 and 5:37. As the women reached the 10K mark, 13 of the 15 remained tightly bunched, content to let the miles and rock bands pass one by one. But as they exited Camp Pendleton on the back side of the course the women passed 10K in a "pedestrian" 34:25, 5:33 pace. As if a second starting pistol had sounded, Mexican star Adriana Fernandez went powerfully to the front. She never looked back. And no one challenged the 1999 New York City Marathon champion.
"The pace felt comfortable for the first 10K," said Fernandez after her 70:21 win. "This is my fastest time ever for the half-marathon, so I am very happy."
Fernandez, who is currently prepping for the September 29th Berlin Marathon, applied unrelenting pressure to the field in the second 10K, ripping off a flurry of sub-5:10 miles from 7 to 12. With each mile her lead grew as the race became one for second place. In the distance, Russia's Tatyana Khmeleva and Kenyans Margaret Atodonyang and Pamela Chepchumba took up the fight for second. Behind them Team USA California's Drossin battled half-marathon world record holder Elana Meyer of South Africa for fifth position.
All alone through a second 10K of 32:07, Fernandez crossed the finish with a seven-second personal best to go along with her 15:24 national Mexican record for 5000 meters last weekend at altitude back home. Khmeleva won the battle for second, but arrived at the finish over one minute behind Fernandez. Romania's Nuta Olaru came on strong for third, with Atodonyang in fourth, and Drossin, disappointed in fifth.
2nd Annual Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
Virginia Beach, VA, Sunday, September 1, 2002
MEN
1. Paul Tergat, 33, Kenya, 1:01:59* $12,000
2. James Koskei, 33, Kenya, 1:02:07 $7,000
3. Ben Kumatai-Kosgei, 31, Kenya, 1:02:10 $5,000
4. Stephen Kiogora, 27, Kenya, 1:02:24 $3,000
5. Gilbert Koech, 22, Kenya, 1:02:29 $2,000
6. John Kagwe, 33, Kenya, 1:02:36 $1,500
7. Japhet Kosgei, 34, Kenya, 1:03:00 $1,000
8. Mbarak Hussein, 37, Kenya, 1:03:36 $750
9. Fred Kiprop, 28, Kenya, 1:03:36 $600
10. Marco Gielen, 32, Netherlands, 1:03:48 $500
*course record (previous record, 1:02:19 by Shadrack Hoff (RSA) last year)
WOMEN
1. Adriana Fernandez, 31, Mexico, 1:10:21 $12,000
2. Tatyana Khmeleva, 23, Russia, 1:11:25 $7,000
3. Nuta Olaru, 32, Romania, 1:11:49 $5,000
4. Margaret Atodonyang, 24, Kenya, 1:12:03 $3,000
5. Deena Drossin, 29, USA/CA, 1:12:32 $2,000
6. Pamela Chepchumba, 24, Kenya, 1:13:02 $1,500
7. Elana Meyer, 35, South Africa, 1:13:10 $1,000
8. Sylvia Mosqueda, 36, USA/CA, 1:13:28 $750
9. Alice Chelangat, 25, Kenya, 1:13:48 $600
10. Luminita Talpos, 29, Romania, 1:14:13 $500
For results and more, visit the race website: http://www.RnRHalf.com
# # #
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services
USATF Road Running Information Center
5522 Camino Cerralvo
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 696-6252
http://www.runningusa.org
http://www.usaldr.org
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