Marathon debutant Rutto, Boston champ Zakharova win at Chicago http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/031012/323/eawyq.html
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CHICAGO (AFP) - First-time marathoner Evans Rutto of Kenya and reigning Boston Marathon champion Svetlana Zakharova of Russia won titles at the Chicago Marathon.
Rutto won in 2hr 05min 50sec, eight seconds off the race mark, American Khalid Khannouchi's old world best of 2:05:42 in 1999.
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Kenya's Paul Tergat set the world marathon best of 2:04:55 at the Berlin Marathon on September 28.
But Rutto's run does break the world mark for first-time marathon runners, which had been 2:06:47 by Wilson Onsari in Paris this year.
"I was very surprised by the time," Rutto said. "I'm very happy. I felt good all the way, very strong."
Zakharova won in 2:23:07 with runner-up Constantina Tomescu-Dita 28 seconds behind.
"It was hard to hold up at the end," Zakharova said. "It was hot. I like it here very much and I'll be back next year."
Rutto took home 225,000 dollars while Zakharova received 110,000 dollars. Each won 100,000 dollars for the victory but the Kenyan captured more in bonus prize money.
A late-race surge brought victory for Zakharova, pulling away from her Romanian rival in the final mile for the triumph.
"I tried to hold on for the win, but it was not possible," Tomescu-Dita said. "I had pain in my legs and my stomach."
Latvian Jelena Prokopcuka was third, followed by Russia's Albina Ivanova and Poland's Grazyna Syrek.
Kenyans swept the top five men's spots with Paul Koech second in an unofficial time of 2:07:07 and Daniel Njenga third in an unofficial 2:07:41 over the 26.2-mile course. Peter Chebet was fourth with Jimmy Muindi fifth.
Moroccan Abdelkader El Mouaziz was sixth, followed by American Mebrahton Keflezhigi and South Africa's Hendrick Ramaala.
Rutto, 25, ran the eighth-fastest 10,000m in the world in June of 2000, a personal best of 27:31:32.
He seized command in the men's race, zipping through the 20th mile in 4:35 to pull away from a world-class field and handling the final 10km in 29:26.
Zakharova, 33, was coming off a ninth-place showing at August's World Championships in Paris, where she ran 2:26:53.
Zakharova won the Boston Marathon in April in 2:25:19 and ran her personal best here last year to place fourth in 2:21:31, a Russian national record.
The 26th running of the Chicago race featured 40,000 entrants and a record 550,000-dollar purse.
