Ryan Hall Shatters US Half Marathon Record and US Title Elva Dryer Gets Women's Crown By David Monti (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
HOUSTON
(14-Jan) -- Ryan Hall, the 24 year-old former Stanford star from Big
Bear Lake, Calif., toppled one of the most time-honored records in all
of U.S. road running today. Emerging from the foggy dawn here, he
scooted away early from a strong field at the Aramco Houston
Half-Marathon and blew away Mark Curp's 21 year-old U.S. half-marathon
record by an astonishing 72 seconds. With his 59:43 clocking, Hall
also surpassed German Silva's North American record of 1:00:28 set back
in 1994, and became the fastest non-African born runner in the half marathon.
"My plan was to just see how I felt," said
Hall after running through the streets of Houston accompanied only by
the race's lead vehicles. "I was just going with the race pace I could
maintain."
Hall opened the race with a 4:38 mile, and was
closely followed by Fasil Bizuneh, Olympic silver medalist Meb
Keflezighi, and 2004 Olympian Dan Browne. By the second mile
(9:08/4:30), Hall had a seven second lead and was already pulling away,
hitting the 5-K mark in 14:05, 17 seconds up on Bizuneh and Keflezighi.
He was surprised by how easy the miles felt.
"I've been
training at altitude," said Hall who trains in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.,
with Team Running USA under coach Terrence Mahon. "Four-fifty (per
mile) pace is good (at altitude)."
But the lean and blonde Hall was running much faster than that, averaging about 4:30 per mile (2:48 per kilometer).
"I was getting the splits on my watch and I saw 4:30's," Hall recounted. "I said, 'I'm having a pretty good day here.'"
It
was much better than good. Hall passed 5 miles (about 8 km) in 22:48,
10 km in 28:21, 15 km in 42:21 and ten miles in 45:33. His 15-K split
was one second faster than Todd Williams's U.S. record, and his ten
mile split was 40 seconds faster than Greg Meyer's U.S. 10-mile record.
Hall also passed the 20-K mark much faster than his own American
record (approx. 57:06 vs. 57:54), but there was no official timing at
that mark and the press truck was too far away to get a reasonably
accurate split.
Sailing
down the finish straight on Rusk, Hall waved to the crowd, pumped his
arms and, as is his tradition, looked to the skies to thank God. He
busted the tape with authority, sealing his place in the record books.
"I
really wanted to hit this one right," said Hall who with coach Mahon
had been pointing for this race. "We're still kind of training through
this, getting ready for a spring marathon."
Bizuneh ended up
running with Keflezighi for the entire race, and had a little bit extra
in the final push to the line, sprinting to second place in a personal
best 1:02:20. Keflezigh finished two seconds behind and was impressed
with Hall's performance.
"A lot of us have been targeting that
record," said Keflezighi who said that Curp's record was actually a
little soft. But now Hall had put it out of reach for at least a
little while. "He put it down pretty good," said Keflezighi.
Hall
received a fitting payday for his accomplishment today. He won a total
of $21,000: $12,000 for winning the U.S. title, $5,000 for breaking the
U.S. record and $4,000 for breaking the course record (1:02:07).
DRYER PREVAILS IN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
Olympian
Elva Dryer of Gunnison, Colo., had a very successful half-marathon
debut today, winning the women's U.S. Championships in 1:11:42, just
five seconds up on her Athens Olympics roommate, Katie O'Neill of
Milton, Mass.
"It was a solid race for me," said Dryer who
earned $12,000 for her victory. "Today for me this was an important
race for me to see what I have to do to get where I want to be," she
added.
O'Neill, who had only recently overcome a stress fracture
of her pelvis, tried to keep Dryer close througout the race, but the
gap was just too hard to close.
"I tried to shrink it once, but I died," said O'Neill who ran for Yale University.
Finishing
a surprising third was 24 year-old Michelle Lilienthal of Philadelphia.
The former University of Wisconsin Badger, who ran a 2:35:51 marathon
at Twin Cities last October, shattered her personal best with a 1:12:46
clocking.
"I was pretty much on my own from mile-3," said Lilienthal.
WOMEN'S RECORD FALLS IN THE MARATHON
In
the accompanying Chevron Houston Marathon, Dire Tune of Ethiopia broke
Ingrid Kristiansen's 23 year-old course record, stopping the clock at
2:26:52. Kristiansen's mark of 2:27:34 had stood since 1984. Beata
Rakonczai of Hungary finished second in 2:30:14 in her first marathon
since the Athens Olympics in 2004. Forty-five year-old Firaya
Suntanova-Zhdanova of Tartarstan (Russian federation), finsished third
in 2:39:06. Tune won $35,000 for her victory, including $10,000 for
breaking the course record.
On the men's side, Feyisa Tusse of
Ethiopia got the win in 2:11:39, well ahead of Mikhail Khobotov of
Russia (2:13:56) and Benson Cheruiyot of Kenya (2:14:03). Tusse earned
$28,000 including $3,000 for breaking 2:12:00.
Aramco Houston Half-Marathon Top Results (all USA)
MEN - 1. Ryan Hall, 24, 59:43 AR 2. Fasil Bizuneh, 26, 1:02:20 PB 3. Meb Keflezighi, 31, 1:02:22 4. Andrew Carlson, 24, 1:02:44 PB 5. Jason Lehmkuhle, 29, 1:02:51 PB 6. Brian Sell, 28, 1:03:10 7. Joe Driscoll, 27, 1:03:27 PB 8. Dan Browne, 31, 1:03:55 9. Travis Laird, 25, 1:03:57 PB 10. Justin Young, 27, 1:03:58