ING Miami Marathon

ING Miami Marathon

The ING Miami Marathon and Half Marathon took off in predawn darkness at 6:20 a.m. Sunday, a mass of legs churning down Biscayne Boulevard toward the goal of 26.2 miles -- or 13.1 miles for the half marathoners.
By Saturday evening, when registration had ended, a race-record 21,116 had registered for the marathon and half marathon -- an increase of about 17,000 participants since the event's inaugural running in 2003.
Runners represented 79 countries and every state.
A race-record 4,538 registered for the 26.2-mile marathon distance.
``It's just awesome,'' race director David Scott said about 15 minutes before runners took off from AmericanAirlines Arena. ``The biggest challenge this year has been to keep up with the registration.
``I feel exactly like I did at the end of last year's race. Last year, I said, `Let's do it again in a week.' I'm already looking forward to the next marathon.''
The winning marathoner, Tesfaye Sendeku Alemayehu of Ethiopia, won by a landslide in 2 hours 12 minutes 57 seconds -- 35 seconds off the course record.
The marathon runner-up, Benazzouz Slimani, 34, of Morocco, finished in 2:18:23. Slimani won the ING Miami Marathon in 2009.
Last year's marathon winner, Michael Wardian, 36, finished third in 2:23:41. His time last year was 2:28:39.
Alena Vinitskaya, 37, of Belarus was the women's marathon winner -- also by a huge margin -- in 2:44:39. She was runner-up in two previous ING Miami Marathons.
Stacie Alboucrek, 43, of Fort Lauderdale hurt her hamstring at Mile 23, but finished second in 2:49:03. Alboucrek won the race in 2004.
Winning the half marathon in the men's field: Kumsa Adugna, 24, an Ethiopian who lives in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1:07:04.
Boaz Cheboiywo, 32, a Kenyan who lives in Ypsilanti, Mich., was runner-up in 1:07:33.
The women's half-marathon winner was Aziza Aliyu Abate of Ethiopia in 1:15:06. Two seconds behind her was Fiona Docherty of New Zealand.
The top South Florida marathoner was Mitch Guirard, 25, of West Palm Beach, in 2:30:36.
The top South Florida half-marathon finisher in 1:11:00 (sixth overall) was University of Miami junior Willie Schefer, 20, who transferred this semester from University of San Diego. It was Schefer's first half marathon.
Aquilo Calderon of Ecuador led the hand-cycle wheelchair racers in 1:28:39. Ashley Cooper of Kingsland, Ga., led the female hand-cyclists in 1:48:41.
Orlando Cortez was the male push-rim wheelchair winner in 1:49:56, with Jacqui Kapinowski of Tequesta, leading the women push-rimmers in 2:50:18.
The conditions at the start were splendid -- except for the 92-percent humidity. The Temperature was 54 degrees at 6 a.m., with neither wind nor rain.
More than a thousand spectators surrounded the start, many of them hoisting signs to encourage the runners. One young girl held up a sign that read, ``26.2 BECAUSE 26.3 WOULD BE CRAZY.''
A massive American flag hung over the starting line, brought specially to Miami from Ground Zero in New York City. Behind the spectators, the giant electronic screen at the arena wished the participants luck in bright orange.
Among the masses were at least 21 elite runners, several from Ethiopia and Kenya, which produce some of the best distance runners in the world.
The marathon race course goes through Miami, Miami Beach and residential areas of Coconut Grove, then heads back to the finish near Bayfront Park.