FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kisorio, Defar Victorious At ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon
Both event records fall in City of Brotherly Love; largest field in event's
33-year history with over 18,600 entrants
Philadelphia, PA – September 19, 2010 - Kenya's Matthew Kisorio and
Ethiopia's Meseret Defar wrote themselves into the record books with superb
runs of 60:15 and 1:07:44 at the ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half
Marathon on Sunday morning.
In her half-marathon debut, Defar smashed the U.S. all-comers record,
running the fastest time ever run by a woman on American soil for the
distance. Her time bested Berhane Adere's previous of mark 1:07:52 set
earlier this year at the Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon and Half
Marathon.
"My feeling is good with my first half marathon," Defar said after the
race. "I won it. This is very big for me. I had the speed and knew that
with the last 2K, I could push and win it."
Kenya's Lineth Chepkirui finished two seconds back in 1:07:46, followed by
Ethiopian Werknesh Kidane in 1:08:30. American Shalane Flanagan finished
4th with a time of 1:08:36, one minute and two seconds off Deena Kastor's
American Record.
On the men's side, Kisorio, a World junior 5,000-meter silver medalist,
broke Khalid Khannouchi's 1997 event mark by 12 seconds. 2009 World Cross
Country Champion Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia finished ten seconds back in
second place with a time of 1:00:25. Brett Gotcher of Flagstaff, Arizona
was the top American finisher in ninth place, running 1:02:50. Defending
champion Ryan Hall finished a disappointing 13th in 1:03:55.
Top Ten Finishers
Men
Pl Name Age Hometown Finish Time
1 Matthew Kisorio 21 Kenya 1:00:15
2 Gebre Gebremariam 26 Ethiopia 1:00:25
3 Abderrahim Goumri 34 Morocco 1:01:33
4 Peter Some 20 Kenya 1:01:34
5 Simon Bairu 27 Canada 1:02:08
6 Alistair Cragg 30 Ireland 1:02:15
7 Wesley Korir 27 Kenya 1:02:40
8 Shawn Forest 27 Australia 1:02:44
9 Brett Gotcher 26 Flagstaff, AZ 1:02:50
10 Boaz Cheboiywo 32 Kenya 1:03:02
Women
Pl Name Age Hometown Finish Time
1 Meseret Defar 26 Ethiopia 1:07:44
2 Lineth Chepkirui 22 Kenya 1:07:46
3 Werknesh Kidane Ethiopia 1:08:30
4 Shalane Flanagan 29 Portland, OR 1:08:36
5 Kim Smith 28 New Zealand 1:08:39
6 Caroline Rotich 26 Kenya 1:10:24
7 Katie McGregor 33 Minneapolis, MN 1:12:04
8 Stephanie Herbst Lucke 44 Atlanta, GA 1:12:15
9 Chaofeng Jia 21 China 1:12:46
10 Deratu Tulu 38 Ethiopia 1:13:01
For more information, visit Competitor.com.
###
|
