Nov 24, 2008 12:15 am US/Eastern
Thousands Brave Cold To Run Philadelphia Marathon
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ―
A pair of Ukrainian runners edged a pair of Americans to win the men's and women's titles in Sunday's
15th annual Philadelphia Marathon.
Andriy Toptun, 27, won
the men's race in a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes, 58 seconds. Fred Kieser, 37,
of Cleveland, Ohio placed second in 2:22.45.
In the women's race,
first-time marathoner Vera Ovcharuk, 27, took honors in a time of 2:44.03. Abby
Dean, 37, a Philadelphia
native, was the runner-up in 2:48.52.
Cold, windy conditions
greeted the estimated 8,000 runners for the 26.2-mile trek through the historic
city.
Toptun took control of
the men's race in the first mile and never looked back. He was aiming for a
time in the 2:18 range, but the weather produced far from optimal conditions.
"I had to run
alone and it was cold, so the time is not too bad," Toptun said through an
interpreter.
Kieser lost sight of
Toptun early on, but said he was satisfied taking second.
"There was no
doubt the cold slowed everything down," said Kieser, who coaches a high
school girls cross country team in Cleveland.
"I thought I might have a chance (at Toptun) at the eight-mile mark, but
he just had too much left in the tank."
Ovcharuk waited until the
20-mile mark before making her move.
"I had never run a
marathon," Ovcharuk said. "I ran slowly
for the first half, then ran faster (from there)."
Dean ran the New York
City Marathon just three weeks ago, but she said her time was slowed by an
allergic reaction to something she ate. So she wanted to see if she could do
better in her hometown.
"I was trying to
break 2:40 in New York," said Dean, who
does research work at the University
of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
"I had hives and an asthma attack on the course. So I knew Philly was
coming up and I love this course. I decided to give it another shot."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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