This was one jam packed weekend for distance runners. The California International Marathon, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas marathon and the inaugural Santa Barbara Marathon all took off on Sunday morning.
California International Marathon (CIM)
The largest field ever assembled lined up for the 27th running of the California International Marathon (CIM) on Sunday morning in Sacramento.
Top finisher honors went to Ethiopian Tesfaye Girma-Bekele, 27, who won in a time of 2:13:42. American distance runner Josh Cox, 34, crossed the line in 2:13:41, meeting the qualifying time for the Men’s Olympic Trials. Cox is a resident of Mammoth Lakes, CA, where recent New York Marathon champ Meb Keflezighi also trains.
In the women’s division, Buzunesh Deba, 22, also an Ethiopian grabbed the first place title with a time of 2:32:17. The second place finisher in this division was Elena Orlova, 39, from Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Winners Girma-Bekele and Deba each collected $10,000 in prize money.
In a follow up to an earlier post, here are the results for legacy runners Steve Polansky and Tim Twietmeyer. Polansky finished in 4:49:22 at age 63, and Twietmeyer, 51, completed the course in a speedy 3:35:18. Congratulations to both men for keeping their streak alive!
Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon
Over 27,000 runners lined up for the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon.
Following a lavish start line ceremony that featured Vegas showgirls, white tigers, a skydiver and a fifteen minute fireworks show, runners headed off on the course which included trekking up and down the famous Las Vegas strip.
Winners were Christopher Toroitich, 28 of Kenya in a time of 2:15:15 in the men’s division and Caroline Rotich, 25, also of Kenya, who finished in 2:29:47. Toroitich earned $15,000 for his win, while Rotich took home $25,000 which included a head-to-head competition bonus.
While this event was billed as an Inaugural event, there has actually been a Las Vegas marathon for several years prior to this one. The event has seen various course and management changes in the past few years.
Now the event is part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon series created and organized by Elite Racing, a subsidiary of Competitor Group, based in San Diego, CA.
Santa Barbara International Marathon
California residents took the top spots in both the men’s and women’s races at the Santa Barbara International Marathon.
Carlos Handler, 27, of Pomona topped the men’s field in 2:24:48. Local stand-out athlete Andrea McLarty, 32, who recently won the Santa Barbara half-marathon took the women’s title in 2:52:23.
While the Las Vegas event was clearly a large scale run, the Santa Barbara International Marathon seems as if it was more of an intimate happening.
Checking out the SBIM Facebook page, many runners are personally praising organizers Rusty and June Snow for all of their hard work in getting this event off the ground.
In the relay division, the top male team, Diazmcgowan, finished in 2:54. First place in the co-ed division was Three Royals and a Don in 3:02. The top place women’s relay team was the appropriately named Move Outta the Way in 3:08.
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