Yirefu Birhanu chose Baltimore for his first marathon and won the sixth annual Under Armour Baltimore Marathon on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Ethiopian posted a winning time of 2:16:26 after pulling away from defending champion Mykola Antonenko, of Russia, in the last quarter of the marathon. Birhanu, the first Ethiopian to win the sixth annual event, crossed the finish line with a 29-second lead over Antonenko.
In a tight race coming down the stretch, 11 runners were in the lead pack at the 19-mile mark and six running at the front with 5.2 miles remaining. At the 23-mile point, it became a two-man race ? Birhanu and Antonenko. David Cheruiyot, of Kenya, struggled with Charm City?s hills, and the cool breeze that tends to help runners was instead a hindrance to some of the field.
“The course is very hard and its hills and roads are rough,” said Cheruiyot, who came in at sixth place. “I almost dropped out.”
Cheruiyot said he will look to defend his title in Houston later in the fall. For the women, not only did the record of time of 2:40:21 fall, it fell hard, with four runners breaking the previous best.
Rima Dubovik, of Ukraine, set the new standard at 2:35:44, with Maria Portilla (2:36:23), Ilona Baranova (2:36:25) and Jennifer Chesinon (2:38:53) following close behind. The 42-year-old Dubovik used a strong second half to her marathon and paced out with a 39-second victory.
Birhanu and Dubovik will each receive a prize of $15,000. The Under Armour Baltimore Running Festival also featured a childrens? run, half marathon, 5K race, team relay race and wheelchair race. Capturing first in the half-marathon by five seconds, Valentine Orare posted a time of 1:03:44 on the 13.1-mile course.
“Today?s half-marathon was fine but windy,” Orare said. “The hills, I gave it my best. The course was very hard.”
