Posted at 11:42 a.m., Sunday, December 2, 2007
Marathon: Russian woman finishes 1st at Las Vegas run
Advertiser Staff
LAS VEGAS -- Silviya Skvortsova of Russia pulled away from the field during the first mile and went on to become both the top finisher and the women's champion at the 2007 Zappos.com Las Vegas Marathon on Sunday.Skvortsova finished the 26-mile, 385-yard race in an unofficial time of 2:29.01 and became the first woman elite runner in the 3-year-old event to claim the $25,000 Megabucks Challenge by reaching the finish line before men's champion Christopher Cheboibich of Kenya.
Each winner earned a $20,000 first-place prize.
Skvortsova and eight other elite women runners started 18 minutes and three seconds before the men. Cheboibich finished in 2:16:49, which meant that Skvortsova held over a five-minute differential against him.
Both Skvortsova and Cheboibich won by substantial margins. Irene Mogaka of Kenya was the second-place woman with a time of 2:36.15 while Jynocel Basweti of Kenya was the men's runner-up with 2:17.41.
Cheboibich won his first marathon title by breaking away from fellow Kenyan Philip Tanui near the 21-mile mark and running alone for the remaining five-plus miles. Tanui finished third in 2:20.26.
Skvortsova took a risk by breaking away from the pack so early, but the strategy paid off.
"I was just fighting with myself," Skvortsova said through an interpreter. "This will bring me a lot of confidence in myself, but I have to run faster in the spring."
Skvortsova's goal is to qualify for the 2008 Olympics with the Russian team. She has posted a personal-best time of 2:27.07 with a first-place finish at the 2005 Rome Marathon.
Cheboibich also didn't match his personal-best time of 2:08.17, which was set during a second-place effort at the New York City Marathon in 2002.
"The time was not that strong," Cheboibich said. "But I think it is an honor to win my first race during my first race in Las Vegas."
The men's half-marathon winner was won by first-time event participant Peter Hessler of Ridgway, Colo., in a time of 1:18.40.
A record 16,843 runners participated in the run. It took about 23 minutes for all runners to cross the start-finish line. It was 34 degrees with virtually no wind when the runners started at 6:05 a.m. with a fireworks show and a live musical performance taking place. "This was the first year that we had good weather," LV Marathon Race President William Burke said.
The event featured a mile-5 Run-Thru Wedding Chapel where 56 couples were signed up to get married. There were also about 150 people running as "Elvises" and a live performance by Blue Man Group on the course.
