Courtesy: event press release

A long dueling match over most of a new course between male elite runners John Gwako and Andrew Letherby resulted in Gwako's winning the 10th Annual 3M Half Marathon and Relay Overall Male Division at one hour, two minutes and 15 seconds (1:02:15). Leatherby finished second at 1:02:32, while Los Angeles' Sylvia Mosqueda took tops in the Female Open Division, beating her own event record with a new record of 1:09:52. Mosqueda set the previous female event record at the 2002 3M Half Marathon with a time of 1:10:45. Start time weather conditions for the race were 54 degrees and clear with winds coming out of west at 5 mph.

The Male Masters winner was Paul Zimmerman (1:09:01) while Carmen Ayala-Troncoso took the Female Masters division in 1:16:52. Zimmerman and Ayala-Troncoso are both returning 3M Half Marathon competitors. In 2002, Zimmerman won the Male Masters Division while Ayala-Troncoso received 2nd place in 2001 for the Female Open Division.

Ramiro Bermudez repeated as the Overall Male Wheelchair Division winner at 57:11. Bermudez was also the winner of the Overall Wheelchair Division in the 2003 3M Half Marathon.

This year's event consisted of three races: the Half Marathon (13.1 miles), the Half Marathon Relay (2 legs of approximately 10k each) and the Kids' Fun Run (1/4 mile). More than 3,000 athletes participated in the race, competing for an $11,000 cash purse.

In conjunction with the event, 3M donated $15,000 to The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB), a non-profit organization that receives, stores, and distributes millions of pounds of donated food and grocery products annually through its network of more than 340 partner agencies within a 21-county service area. CAFB also serves the community as a resource on hunger, poverty and nutrition issues.

Gold sponsors of the 2004 3M Half Marathon and Relay include RunTex, FOX 7, Liaison Resources, Kolar Advertising & Marketing, Reunion Band, the Austin American-Statesman, HEB, Clif Bar, Comac, Nextel, Brooks, Egg Beaters, and 3M Scotchlite Reflective Materials.

The 2004 3M Half Marathon was part of the RunTex Distance Challenge. Since 1995, 3M has sponsored the half marathon. The race was voted Austin Race of the Year in 2002 by Austin runners and was the only Texas half marathon named in Runner's Worlds' Top 25 Half Marathons in 2002.