Posted at 9:39 a.m., Sunday, December 2, 2007
Marathon: Kenyans Cheruiyot, Chepchumba win Milan
Advertiser Staff
MILAN, Italy -- Evans Kiprop Cheruiyot of Kenya won the Milan marathon today in his debut at the distance and Pamela Chepchumba of Kenya won the women's race.Cheruiyot finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 14 seconds, ahead of John Birgen of Kenya (2:09:19) and Norman Dlomo of South Africa (2:10:38).
Chepchumba won in 2:25:36, nearly 10 minutes ahead of runner-up Marcella Mancini of Italy.
The men's race began quickly with Martin Lel, the winner of the New York City Marathon last month, as the pace setter on the mostly flat course.
As the runners were heading to the finish, an unidentified bare-chested man leaped over the barriers and entered the course. He was taken away by race stewards before he could interfere with any of the athletes.
Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil was seventh in 2:12:53. De Lima was the subject of a fan intrusion at the 2004 Athens Olympics, when an Irish spectator jumped from the crowd, grabbed him and pushed him off the marathon course with about 2 miles to go while he was leading. He finished third.
Lima still needs to improve his time to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics.
