Aryasova, Moiben and Mendoza winners at L.A. Marathon

Russian
Tatiana Aryasova won the LA Marathon, and the $100,000 "Banco Popular
Challenge" with an unofficial time of 2:09:32, beating out the top
"elite" male runner, Laban Moiben of Kenya, who clocked in with an
unofficial time of 2:13:50. The petite Aryasova is in peak shape; she
recently gave birth and resumed her training rapidly.
 
Both
runners received the keys to their new Honda Accords thanks to the
race's sponsor, Honda of America, whose headquarters are located here
in Torrance. They also each received a cash award of $20,000. The
winning pair took the lead early on, and were ahead of the more than
26,000 runners who began the race in North Hollywood and traveled the
26 miles on foot to Downtown LA.
 
The wheelchair race had an
exciting finish earlier this morning, which KTLA describes as featuring
a "grueling sprint" taking place for the last six miles of their race.
The winner was Saul Mendoza, who crossed the line in first place for
the seventh time today, just moments ahead of Krige Schaburt, whose
wheelchair had a flat front tire.
 
Although in the past two
years of the race there have been fatalities, thus far only minor
injuries, mostly in the bike race, have been reported.

Logra Saúl Mendoza dramático triunfo en Maratón de L.A.
Consigue el olímpico mexicano el primer lugar de la justa con especialidad en silla de ruedas, con un final de fotografía
Logra Saúl Mendoza dramático triunfo en Maratón de L.A.Logra Saúl Mendoza dramático triunfo en Maratón de L.A.
Notimex
El Universal

Wheelchair racers, bike riders, walkers, joggers and more serious runners enjoyed more than 26 miles of streets closed to traffic in the 23rd annual Los Angeles Marathon.

The Russian leads the women easily for most of the race; the Kenyan passes to the front of the men’s field in the second half and pulls away.


Wearing T-shirts and top hats, stocking caps and fright wigs, running with dogs and children and thoughts of absent loved ones, a field of about 25,000 runners took to the streets of a sunny, warm city Sunday morning for the 23rd Los Angeles Marathon.

 
Tatiana Aryasova of Russia, a 5,000-meter specialist who was making her marathon debut after taking time off to have a child, won the women's race and a $100,000 bonus for prevailing in the Banco Popular Challenge.

 
The elite women were given a head start of 19 minutes, 38 seconds over the men's field, and Aryasova maintained a safe lead for most of the race and crossed the field line in an unofficial time of 2:29.

 
Laban Moiben of Kenya won the men's race and $20,000 by completing the course in 2:13:51.

 
Aryasova, running with her blond braid bobbing behind her, faltered a bit about 1:41 into the race but regained her stride to finish the second half of the race quicker than the first half, which is known as a negative split.

 
She consistently ran 5-minute, 30-second miles during the toughest part of the race, after the 20-mile mark. Aryasova, whose surname was Khmeleva before her marriage, trained in Gainesville, Fla., in the month leading up to this race. Her coach is Tatiana Pozdniakova, a previous winner of the challenge in L.A.

 
Moiben and Christopher Kiprotich of Kenya overtook early leader Dmitriy Safronov of Russia about 1 hour and 30 minutes into the race and pulled away from the pack. Moiben ran the last few miles alone.