FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TOO, DENISOVA CONQUER WINDS TO WIN FITBIT MIAMI MARATHON TITLES
MIAMI -- Hillary Too counts on his wife back in Eldoret on the western side
of Kenya to manage the family's dairy farm so he can concentrate on his
professional running career. As he conquered a windy South Florida Sunday
to win the 16th Fitbit Miami Marathon, Too certainly did his part to bring
home the bacon.
Too kicked to the finish line to complete a 2:23:02 effort that was 37
seconds better than Ethiopian Teklu Deneke (2:23:39). A year ago, as he
finished second in Miami while running only his fifth Marathon, Too
surprised the other elite runners in the field. That was not the case this
year as the 38-year-old father of three took the lead at mile 22 and never
looked back even though his wind hampered time was more than four minutes
off last year's effort.
"I feel good, very excited for winning," Too said. "To win a race is not an
easy task. I was slow today because of the wind, it was everywhere, from
start to finish. It affects us because you are running against it so many
times. It also was very humid today. When you`re running, it all
influences."
The windy conditions also were felt by the women's marathon winner,
five-foot, 99-pound Lyubov Denisova. Denisova may run light on her feet,
but she's a powerhouse in any conditions. She blew away the rest of the
women's field with a career-best time of 2:40:53 that was nearly eight
minutes better than runner-up Lindsey Scherf of High Falls, N.Y.
"The course is good, no hills, and the bridges are not very high," said
Denisova, 46. "The only problem was the wind."
Denisova dropped out last year's Miami Marathon after 13 miles but she was
able to bounce back in 2018.
"It was cold and rainy last year," she said. "My body did not do well at
all. I like warm weather. That's why I live in Florida of course."
She took home $4,500 as the top women's finisher, and an extra $500 for
being the top Master's finisher had her beaming. She said she would use
her winnings to pay for tuition at Flagler College for 17-year-old daughter
Anastasia, who has started taking after mom by running in 5K races.
"She does OK," said Denisova, who hopes to become a US citizen in 2018
after living in U.S. for the last nine years. "But not like Mom did this
weekend!"
The Fitbit Miami Marathon and Half Marathon drew more than 21,000 runners
from all 50 states and 70 countries, boasting a comfortable 72 degree
temperature at its 6 a.m. start. Runners traversed the MacArthur Causeway
to South Beach before returning downtown on the Venetian Causeway, heading
south to Coconut Grove and then back downtown for a finish at Bayfront
Park.
Miami images providing unique backdrops during the race including the
glistening cruise ships docked on the causeways, the Art Deco district of
Miami Beach and the high-rises of the Brickell financial district.
The crowd of runners enjoying the scenery included Latin music sensation
Prince Royce, who followed Saturday's training run in the Fitbit Tropical
5K by completing his first Fitbit Miami Marathon in a time of 2:03:55.
The field also included University of Miami cancer scientist Omar Nelson
who ran 39.3 miles on the day to raise money for his research efforts.
Nelson left at 4 a.m. to run the half marathon course so he could return by
6:30 a.m. and start the Marathon with the rest of the runners. He suffered
bad cramps in his final five miles of the day, but finished the Marathon in
4:16:20.
Kenyan Julius Koskei, 35, was in Miami for less than 48 hours, but he made
quick work of the men's half-marathon field (1:05:47), finishing nearly two
minutes ahead of Ethiopian Senbeto Geneti (1:07:43) and two-time Miami
Marathon champion Luis Carlos Rivero (1:08:42) of Guatemala.
"I was pushing myself to finish in one hour and three minutes or one hour
and two minutes," Koskei said. "It was a very nice, flat course, and the
weather was good, just too windy. There was too much wind in the start and
finish, I was running against it and it kept pushing me back".
Ethiopian Firegenet Mandefiro, 24, introduced herself to the Miami running
community by winning the women's half marathon (1:16:34), with 2016 winner
and race record-holder Santa Ines Melchor of Peru on her heels (1:16:45).
Mandefiro, the 2017 Chicago Half-Marathon champion, credits her training
and strategy for being able to hold off the 31-year-old Melcor.
"In our country we run by making paces so I found someone running the same
pace," Mandefiro said. "In the last two miles I pushed myself and got the
lead.
"I like this weather because I train in high altitude for the most part of
the year, and this is easy for me. My body is in shape for these
conditions."
The highly-decorated Melchor -- she is the South American record holder for
the full marathon -- had already warmed up before reaching the start line.
When traffic on one of the city's expressway exits backed up and threatened
to make her late for the start of the race, the 31-year hopped out of the
car in which she was riding and began sprinting to the race's starting
line.
"Other people started getting out of their cars and running with me," she
said. "We got to the starting line on time."
Colombian Pierry Ramirez, 41, led the way among athletes with disabilities
with his 10th Miami Marathon win in the half-marathon handcycle division
(55:19). Ramirez was paralyzed as an 18-year-old when his vehicle
detonated a land mine.
Fellow Colombian Francisco San Clemente won the male push rim (1:03:23)
half-marathon race, while the marathon hand-cycle races were won by Alfredo
De Los Santos (1:12:46) of Hopewell Junction, NY and German Kristen Abele
(1:49:59). The push rim marathon champions were Cristian Torres of Colombia
(2:13:39) and Venezuelan Mercedes Gomez (3:01:39).
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