Never mind the overcast skies and slick streets. Ethiopian runners Derese Deniboba and Alemtsehay Misganaw found Richmond to be as enjoyable yesterday as Hartford, Conn., had been for them last month.

The first McDonald’s Half Marathon produced a dramatic climax. About 8:35 a.m., spectators gathered near the finish line at 9th and Cary streets, looked west and saw, racing together down Cary, three runners - Deniboba, Elijah Kitur and Tasfaye Girma.

Watching the trio approach was Abiyot Endale, who had faith in his best friend’s closing kick. Sure enough, with about 100 meters to go, Deniboba shed Kitur and Girma and sprinted to the tape to win in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 50 seconds.

Kitur, from Kenya, was a second back at 1:06:51, New York-based Girma was third in 1:06:54, comfortably ahead of Genna Tufa (1:07:09) of Bronx, N.Y. A distant fifth was Matthew Barresi (1:10:11) of Falls Church.

The first woman to cross the line was Misganaw, in 1:18:34. It was her second half-marathon victory in little more than a month. On Oct. 11, she won the women’s title in a 13.1-mile race in Hartford, where Deniboba was the overall winner.

Like Deniboba, Misganaw received $1,000 for her victory yesterday. Unlike Deniboba, she had little competition. The second-place woman, Maria Busienei, finished more than two minutes back.

Misganaw was fourth in the women’s portion of the 2007 Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K, and she had planned to enter the 8K yesterday.

“But she saw the competition in the 8K and didn’t think she’d win,” said her husband, Jason Jett. “Jane Murage has beaten her three times this year.”

So Misganaw, 28, opted for the half marathon. The warm and humid conditions didn’t faze her.

“The weather is good,” she said.

Misganaw, who like Deniboba is based in New York City, hopes to qualify for the Olympics as a marathoner in 2012.

Deniboba, 26, doesn’t speak much English, but his friend Endale was happy to help during a post-race interview.

Endale ran in the 8K, which started 30 minutes before the half marathon, and finished long before Deniboba yesterday. So Endale made his way to the 12½-mile mark on the half-marathon course and waited for his friend. When he saw Deniboba in the lead group, Endale knew how the race would play. So, he said, did Kitur and Girma.

“They know if they’re together [with Deniboba] near the finish line, they’re not going to beat him,” Endale said.

Fifth-place Barresi knew the lead group was at another level yesterday.

“I couldn’t see them at three miles,” he said. “They were gone.”

Richmond Newspapers Inc. sponsored the local marathon from 1978 to 1997, and a half marathon was part of race day in each of those years. Yesterday’s half marathon, however, was the first to be held in conjunction with the Richmond 26.2-miler in 11 years, and it attracted 4,619 entries.

“It’s a nice course and a nice organization,” Kitur said. “Everything was perfect.”

Jon Lugbill, executive director of the Richmond Sports Backers, could have done without the thunderstorms that woke him at 2:30 a.m. yesterday and had race organizers anxiously checking the forecast. But Lugbill was delighted to see so many runners in the half marathon.

“It has become kind of the ‘it distance,’ ” Lugbill said. “It’s long enough that you have to train for it, but it’s short enough that you don’t have to do the 20-mile training runs.”

Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

- Republished from inRich.com

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