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|  Rop, Chepchumba win New York City Marathon with late surges November 4, 2002 Courtesy: Jim Gerweck/Running USA
Milena Glusac and Meb Keflezighi of Team USA California made
aggressive moves
coming over the span, and while they faded somewhat in the final
miles, the
fact that they were running with the big kids capped a year of
resurgence of
American distance running. In the end, a pair of Kenyans took the winners' laurels,
Rodgers Rop adding
the Big Apple title to his Boston crown, and Joyce
Chepchumba, a past victor
at London and Chicago, finally getting the third leg of
marathoning's Triple
Crown. It was the first time Kenyan runners have won both the
men's and
women's titles at New York in the same year. Glusac, Chepchumba and some two dozen other elite women didn't
have to share
the cheering with the men this time, either. For the first time
in a major
U.S. marathon, they were given a 35 minute head start over the
men and the
32,000-plus others who braved chilly temperatures and stiff
breezes to make
it from Staten Island to the finish in Central Park. Not having to share the road with the masses no doubt made
matters easier for
Marla Runyan in her marathon debut. The American record holder
for the 5000
indoors and a 2000 Olympian, Runyan of Eugene, Ore. is legally
blind and was
followed by a cyclist who called out splits and gave her verbal
cues of
changes in the course and the race complexion. The result was a
stunning
2:27:10, fifth overall, the 10th fastest U.S. time ever and made
Runyan the
fifth fastest American all-time. "I couldn't be happier," she said afterward. "I felt really good
until the
last two miles, and the support of the crowds was incredible." Glusac, who later regretted the rashness of her move, "I should
have held
back about 10 seconds per mile," she said. Nonetheless the
Fallbrook, Calif.
resident finished tenth in 2:31:14, a 2:32 PR and better than
the 2004
Olympic Marathon 'A' standard (2:32:00). Keflezighi, also a 2000 Olympian and multi-national champion,
had no regrets
about pushing the pace up First Avenue. "Rodgers Rop was making a move, and I went for it," said the
U.S. 10,000
meter record holder. "You run and learn." In spite of a final
10K that he
termed "painful" and so slow he'd like to forget his splits, he
hung on to
finish ninth in 2:12:35, making him the fourth fastest American
man of 2002
behind world record holder Khalid Khannouchi, Alan Culpepper and
Dan Browne. Chepchumba, 31, who was the marathon bronze medalist at the 2000
Sydney
Olympics, pulled away from Russia's Lyubov Denisova as the pair
entered
Central Park, her 2:25:56 giving her a 21 second margin and her
a record
ninth sub-2:26 marathon. Yugoslavia's Olivera Jevtic recovered
from a late
race collision and fall with Aussie Kerryn McCann to place third
in her debut
as she set a national record 2:26:44. Rop, 29, who holds the 25K world road record, had fellow Kenyans
Christopher
Cheboiboch and Laban Kipkemboi for company in the final miles
before surging
away at 35K, leaving Cheboiboch in the same runner-up position
he occupied at
Boston, ten seconds behind Rop's 2:08:07, a PR. Kipkemboi
finished third in
2:08:39 with France's Mohamed Ouaadi fourth in 2:08:53; the
first time four
men have broken 2:09 at the race in the same year. From the women's head start, which put the race in plain view of
fans along
the route, to the record field, it was a successful day all
around for race
organizers, who got an added boost the previous evening when New
York was
selected as the U.S. bid city for the 2012 Olympics. "There was just a good feeling about the race from everyone,"
said director
Allan Steinfeld. "Last year was more of an emotional reaction to
9-11, but
it's carried over to making this the best New York Marathon
ever. For the
media, the athletes, and most of all the spectators, I think we
did that." Ask anyone from any of those groups and it's probable they'll
echo the race's
2002 motto: "New York - Love It."
New York City Marathon November 3, 2002
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At the New York City Marathon, Manhattan's
First Avenue is the equivalent of box seats at a baseball park
as the fans
here line up deeper, and cheer louder, than at any other point
on the 26.2
mile, five-borough route. Today, they had something extra and
unexpected to
cheer about as American runners leading both the men's and
women's races as
the runners rolled off the Queensboro Bridge and into
the "Canyon of Sound"
for which First Avenue has become famous.