Vicoty Chepngeno started Sunday’s women’s half marathon as the clear favorite. Her résumé is pretty impressive in road racing across the United States. The 28-year-old Kenyan had won 10 of her previous 11 half-marathons in the US over 13.1 miles.
It came as no surprise that she ran off the field on her Houston debut. She broke the tape in 1:05:03, the fastest women’s half marathon in the United States. She led all the way and broke the course record by 47 seconds (Brigid Kosgei, 2019).
“I wanted to run my best time,” Chepngeno said. “I am so happy to win the race. Thanks for the invitation.”
Her time makes her the 11th fastest woman in half-marathon history.
She was so comfortable running in front that by the time runner-up Sara Hall reached 15km, Hall was 1:47 behind the leader. Chepngeno’s splits were 4:55, 4:56, 5:00, 5:03.
Chepngeno said she was surprised that she ran so much faster than her previous best of 1:07:22 on her last run over the distance in Philadelphia two months ago.
Richard Dean
Ethiopian sprints to men’s half win
Milkesa Mengesha Tolosa of Ethiopia overtook Kenyan John Korir to win the men’s half marathon in 1:00:24 on his debut in Houston. Korir was clocked at 1:00:27.
“Things went as I expected,” Tolosa, 21, said through a translator. “I could have done better if the weather had been warmer.”
Tolosa had expected to run with a pacemaker. That didn’t happen.
“I couldn’t get a pacer to work,” Tolosa said. “The weather was cold at the beginning. When it started getting warmer I got energy so I kept running and running.”
The winner ran with a pack of eight to ten runners. But when he turned onto Memorial Drive at mile 19, the pack dwindled to just two men in front of him. There Tolosa took the lead and attacked in the last three kilometers.
Tolosa placed 10th at the Tokyo Olympics, representing Ethiopia in the 5,000 meters.
Richard Dean
The women’s winner gets a helping hand
It was fitting that Calum’s neff helped Keira D’Amato win Sunday’s Chevron Houston Marathon in a record time that was also the fastest ever set by an American.
After all, the former University of Houston distance runner has every right to call himself the unofficial defending champion of the race, having practically run the marathon distance in January last January in 2:22, on his way to a 30-year-old Canadian 50km record to break distance on a Bear Creek Park course he created himself with so many official events canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He was joined that day by 17 of his fellow ultra marathoners, including a few women he coached.
“We all submitted our (marathon-distance) splits,” he said, “and they told me my time was the fastest.”
His winning time in the 50K was 2:51:57, more than a minute faster than the previous Canadian record.
Neff graduated from UH in 2007 and then moved to Calgary, where he was born, to work. More synergy: As Operations Manager at Baker Hughes, he said he often worked with Chevron on projects. When Baker Hughes moved him back to Houston eight years ago, he made his marathon debut here in 2014. He has completed four live Houston marathons, including a 2:22 in the second, and two Aramco half marathons, apart from the 2021 virtual marathon.
But he thinks he’s personally better suited to the even longer distances, as his 50km effort suggests.
At 37, Neff is the same age as D’Amato and a father of three girls. She has two children who bonded quickly when she contacted him “on Instagram about a month ago” to serve as her pacer on a course he knows very well. He called it “a rare opportunity” to help her get into position to accomplish what she did on Sunday.
“I ran right with her until about a mile in front of her,” he said, “then just let her pull away and have her own race.”
DaleRobertson
First attempt a success for Dan Green students
Woodlands resident Tiffany Moran had a magical Sunday, although her marathon time of 3:07:18 barely matched D’Amato’s stunning 2:19:12. 36-year-old mother-of-two Moran ran her first marathon, a promising first step as she began her unlikely quest to qualify for the US 2024 Olympic Trials.
Moran never started running until she was an adult. But their paths happened to cross with Dan Green, longtime Woodlands High School track and field coach who was also the 1972 winner of the inaugural Houston marathon. Green saw something in her that she admits she hadn’t seen in herself, and after they had their second child, their partnership grew serious.
“I mean physically I feel exactly like I got hit by a bus,” Moran admitted when reached later in the day. “I’m tired. But I feel humbled and proud. Just wow!”
She said before the race she wanted to finish in three hours but was happy with 3:15. Mission accomplished.
“I stayed in the three-hour group for three hours and then hit the wall,” Moran said. “I hit the wall maybe twice. My hip screamed. But that would be a great first step.”
When asked if learning what D’Amato has done would inspire her, Moran replied, “That was absolutely amazing … she also has two children. I bet she’s overjoyed. Man what an accomplishment. I never thought I could be blown away, but I was definitely on the same course with her and with Sara Hall (who set the American half-marathon record at age 38). … I can’t wait to get back to this. I’m sure Dan has some plans for me.”
DaleRobertson
bits and pieces
In fourth place, recovering from illness Kirubel Erassa was the best American in his half-marathon debut, finishing with the same time (1:00:44) as third place Wilfred Kimitei from Kenya. Erassa, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colo., had a good five months of training in Ethiopia, but contacted COVID two weeks before the Houston race. … Of the six fastest half-marathons run by American women, three came in Houston on Sunday. Halls 1:07:15 tops the list.
Fiona O’Keeffe
