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Kenyan woman runs to victory
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Photo by K.M. Cannon.
Caroline Rotich of Kenya wins the women’s race in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon on the Las Vegas Strip near Mandalay Bay on Sunday. She earned the $15,000 first prize, while also winning the race’s male-female challenge, good for another $10,000. » Buy this photo
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Runners start the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon and 1/2 Marathon on the Las Vegas Strip near Mandalay Bay Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. Photo by K.M. Cannon. » Buy this photo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Dec. 6, 2009 | 9:51 p.m.
For Caroline Rotich, Sunday’s Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon was exactly the right distance.
For Alevtina Ivanova, the race proved slightly too long after an otherwise dominant performance.
Rotich, a Kenyan competing in her first marathon, overtook Russia’s Ivanova at the 26-mile mark and sprinted the final 385 yards through the finish line at Mandalay Bay, clocking 2 hours, 29 minutes, 47 seconds. That capped a festive but chilly morning for more than 27,500 participants who took over a huge chunk of the Strip in both directions, with approximately 8,000 in the marathon, and the remaining 19,500 running the half-marathon.
Showing little sign of exhaustion, Rotich broke out a broad smile as she split the tape. She stunned Ivanova with her late rally to claim the $15,000 first prize, while also winning the race’s male-female challenge, good for another $10,000.
‘‘I passed her at 26 miles, and I knew the men were not coming, and people were screaming,’’ Rotich said.
The women’s elite field got a 19-minute head start Sunday morning, with the first runner to finish -- male or female -- collecting the $10,000 bonus. Rotich could hardly contain her jubilation as she approached the finish, still sprinting away from Ivanova, who finished second in 2:30:05.
‘‘After I passed her, I thought, ‘This is going to be good. Really good,’’ Rotich said.
Kenya’s Christopher Toroitich still got the overall victory and $15,000 for pacing the men’s field, but he couldn’t track down Rotich or Ivanova, clocking 2:15:15, about 5 1/2 minutes short of winning the challenge.
Toroitich knew he had his work cut out for him when he hit the 19-mile mark heading west on Hacienda Avenue near Spanish Trail. At that same moment, heading east toward the finish were Ivanova and Kenya’s Alice Timbilili, with a lead of about 1 1/2 miles.
‘‘When I saw the women, I knew that’s when I had to move, right there,’’ Toroitich said.
He did just that. After running side by side with fellow Kenyan Matthew Koech for 19 miles, Toroitich built a 150-yard lead in the 20th mile, and by 21 miles, he was 500 yards ahead of Koech, who had dropped into a pack of seven battling for second. Toroitich was never again challenged, but the real race was unfolding in front of him.
At 22 miles, Rotich didn’t even have Ivanova within eyesight, as the Russian had pulled well ahead of a fading Timbilili. By the 23-mile marker, Rotich tracked down Timbilili -- who ended up dropping out -- but she still had several hundred yards to make up on Ivanova in the final 3.2 miles.
‘‘I was thinking I’m maybe not going to make it,’’ Rotich said. ‘‘Then I noticed that she was coming back to me. I knew she was getting tired.’’
As Rotich, 26, finally closed in on Ivanova, with about a half-mile left, she crafted her passing strategy.
‘‘I was thinking that maybe she could still react. I didn’t want to give her time to react, so I really had to push to the finish line,’’ Rotich said.
Ivanova, who led all but those final yards, was surprised that Rotich had so much in the tank late.
‘‘For the last mile, I felt fine, I felt safe,’’ she said through an interpreter. ‘‘I was not actually thinking she would catch me. But the Kenyan girl was pushing so hard. When I realized she was next to me, I tried to stay with her, but her speed was just too fast.’’
Still, Ivanova -- who gave birth to a baby girl in March, her second child -- could take solace in $8,000 of second-place prize money.
‘‘That’s just sport. It’s competition. Somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose,’’ said the 34-year-old, who has a personal best of 2:26:39, the fastest among the women’s field Sunday. ‘‘Of course I’m sad, because I really wanted this. But this is a good comeback after having the baby.’’
There would be no tracking down Toroitich at the finish. The 28-year-old beat Koech into submission -- his 26-year-old countryman ultimately dropped out -- and Toroitich finished nearly 90 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Terefe Yae won a spirited sprint among Ethiopians for second place, clocking 2:16:42, one second ahead of Assefa Tesfave.
Toroitich looked smooth and fresh throughout the race, so much so that he said he knew his fate early on.
‘‘At 10 miles, I thought, ‘OK, if they catch me, they catch me.’ But I felt then I was going to win,’’ he said.
He kept Koech around for nine more miles, seemingly just to have somebody to run with, before ostensibly putting away the race.
‘‘Matthew was not feeling good. He was not responding, and I thought I better just go,” Toroitich said, adding that despite his race-breaking burst, he soon realized winning the male-female challenge was unlikely.
‘‘When I was at 21 miles, I knew I wasn’t going to get them.’’
Stephen Haas was the top American male, finishing fifth in 2:18:45, and Sara Raschiatore was the first American woman, clocking 2:51:17 in taking eighth.
Contact reporter Patrick Everson at peverson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0353.
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I hope the Marathon is worth the hassle it causes.
Getting to work when you live on Hacienda was a nightmare. We logged onto the Marathon site and thought we had every map and all of the info we needed to get around this mess. We were wrong.
I will advise my wife to take the day off next year and we can just stay home.
Why don't they run it downtown where no one is rather than tying up the strip and half of the city.
Vegas Taxi Driver,
Do you have any evidence to support that this event hurt the "life blood" of Las Vegas? I submit it did not.
I think some of you don't understand the way the tourist industry works - Yes these 'Health Nuts' went to bed early last night - many of whom after filling up with and expensive meal of pasta (One of the best profit margins out there for food) - and now that they have done it - they want to eat, drink, be merry and gamble. Yes the strip shut down for a few hours this morning and 30,000 people are staying here tonight on a SUNDAY! Let's not fool ourselves - I bet the average runner spent more here than the average Cowboy or Metallica fan. It was the best thing going this weekend and gave us WORLD wide attention.
"Will the winning runners have to wait 2 years to get their prize money like all the rest have???"
New organizers this year...a much better and more professional organization which only means a better marathon in the future! Devine (old organizer) was a poser.
Will the winning runners have to wait 2 years to get their prize money like all the rest have??? This marathon is a joke.