Marathon winner injured in fall at finish line
Robert Cheruiyot held off fellow Kenyan Daniel Njenga to win the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, taken from the course in a wheelchair after slipping and banging his head near the finish line.
Cheruiyot, winner of this year's Boston Marathon, stayed down for several minutes after hitting his head. He was placed in a golf cart and headed to a hospital for a precautionary exam. Race officials said he was not seriously injured.
Although Cheruiyot slipped before the tape, he did cross the finish line. It was a painful ending to a race in which he sprinted away from Njenga in the final stretch and finished in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 35 seconds.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Marathon winner falls
Ethiopia's Berhane Adere won the women's race in 2:20:42 for her first marathon victory, followed by Russia's Galina Bogomolova (2:20:47), Australia's Benita Johnson (2:22:36) and Mexico's Madai Perez Carrillo (2:22:59). Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita (2:24:25) dropped to fifth after leading the first 21 miles.
Cheruiyot made a push as the leaders turned off Michigan Avenue. Njenga (2:07:40) drew even but couldn't keep pace and finished second in this race for the third time in five years. He was runner-up in 2002 and 2004 and placed third in 2003 and 2005. Jimmy Muindi of Kenya was third (2:07:51), and Abdi Abdirahman, a U.S. citizen born in Somalia, finished fourth in 2:08:56.
Cheruiyot made a move on the 21st mile, but couldn't pull away. Njenga, the 2004 Tokyo International winner, briefly moved to the front, with Cheruiyot and Muindi right with them. The three were close as they headed up Michigan Avenue, but it became a two-man race on the way to the finish line.
With mist, blustery winds and the temperature about 40 degrees, the conditions weren't ideal. But that didn't faze Tomescu-Dita early on.
She had a good history in Chicago and had topped the world record while finishing second at the IAAF World Road Running Championship 20K on Oct. 8. She was hoping to finish in 2:20 -- 90 seconds under her personal best -- and had promised to jump ahead early.
She did just that.
Tomescu-Dita, last year's runner-up and the winner in 2004, was at 1:08:05 halfway through the 26-mile-plus race, more than two minutes ahead of Bogomolova. But Bogomolova and Adere moved ahead just past the 23-mile mark.
Cheruiyot and Adere each earned $125,000 for their victories.