Limo wins Chicago marathon
2005-10-10 08:28
Chicago, Illinois - Kenya's Felix Limo beat countryman and defending champ Benjamin Maiyo to capture the Chicago marathon on Sunday and claim his third major win at the distance.
American Deena Kastor won in the women's event in 2:21.24.
The 25-year-old Limo won in 2hr 7min 04secs, surging ahead in the final metres before the finish line ahead of Maiyo (2:07.11) and Daniel Njenga (2:07.14) while two-time former winner Evans Rutto of Kenya took fourth place in 2:07.30.
"I looked at the faces of everybody, and I was feeling strong so I started moving," said Limo of his third marathon win after Rotterdam and Berlin in 2004.
"I knew there was a little bit of a hill, so I sprinted from there. When I looked behind, I saw the guys struggling and I knew this is my game."
Limo ran the fastest time of the year bettering the 2:07:26 posted by Martin Lel of Kenya in London.
Kastor, who won the bronze medal in the event at the Athens Olympics last year, pulled ahead of Romania's Constantina Tomescu, the defending champion and the newly-crowned world half marathon champion.
The 32-year-old Californian secured the hosts' first success in the women's event since Kristy Johnson's win in 1994.
Tomescu made a late charge but Kastor held on to post her first marathon victory in six attempts.
"These marathons are unkind. When they're unkind, they're extraordinarily harsh. And this was a harsh one," Kastor said. "The fact that I won makes it a little sweeter."
Japan had two women in the top five as Masako Chiba placed third in a time of 2:25.59 and Eri Hayakawa was fifth in 2:28:49.