A First for Marathon Winner

Robert Leonardo withstood a strong early pace Sunday and an equally brisk head wind down the stretch to win the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in Huntington Beach.

Leonardo, a 38-year-old warehouse manager from Van Nuys, passed two-time defending champion Gilbert Salazar of Long Beach near the 15-mile mark and went on to win the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours 32 minutes 54 seconds, about 10 minutes faster than the unofficial second-place finisher, Jaime Ortiz of Lynwood.

It was the first marathon victory for Leonardo, who finished second to Salazar in last year’s race and third in 1999. It was also close to his personal best of 2:31.

“I feel very good,” said Leonardo, who ran 2:36:32 on the same course last year. “I could have done better, but nobody pushed me. The last five miles was also very windy. It didn’t let me under 6 minutes [per mile].”

Salazar defeated Leonardo as recently as last month’s Western Hemisphere half marathon in Culver City, but this time Leonardo showed a lot more speed and stamina.

“He had new legs and new lungs,” Salazar said. “For him to be able to hold that pace was amazing.”

It wasn’t the wind that slowed Salazar, but a rapid early pace.

Salazar 28, said he paid the price for several early miles in the 5:29 range. The ensuing fatigue forced him to walk a couple times after the 19-mile mark and he ultimately finished 18th in 3:12:27, nearly 40 minutes slower than last year’s winning time.

“My legs actually went out on me about the 15-mile mark,” Salazar said. “At that point I had to make a choice whether or not to finish the race. I chose to back off and make it a goal to finish.”

Salazar decided to run with an early leader, but was suddenly left alone in the lead after the other runner joined the half marathon race, which had started the same time as the marathon.

Leonardo was the next closest pursuer and he pulled alongside just past the midway point. Salazar tried to keep up with Leonardo, but his legs began to tire.

Ortiz, 40, finished second, but didn’t officially register for the race after arriving late. The official second-place finisher was Enrique Santoyo of Costa Mesa, who crossed the finish line in 2:45:21.

Nine runners finished in under three hours, including Huntington Beach resident Scott Bennington (2:54:13) and Irvine resident David Schiller (2:58:30).

Edith Martinez of Arcadia won the women’s division, finishing 11th overall in 3:04:46. The top county finisher in the women’s division was Tina Pauley of Tustin, who was third (3:13:32).

Moises Iniquez of Los Angeles won the half marathon in 1:13:16, followed by Juan Ramirez of Santa Ana in 1:13:59.

Riana Van Niekerk of South Africa won the women’s division in 1:18:46.