In a redemptive push near the exact spot where he faded a year earlier, Kenya’s Weldon Kirui won the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday for the second time in three years.
Kirui, 29, collected the winner’s $25,000 purse after completing the 26.2-mile course that runs from Dodger Stadium to the Pacific Ocean’s shore in Santa Monica in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 47 seconds.
Ethiopia’s Gebresadik Adihana was runner-up despite a desperate final response, finishing 10 seconds behind. Defending champion Elisha Barno of Kenya was third (2:12.47).
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“I knew the course. I’d already run those miles,” Kirui said after making his fourth top-four showing in Los Angeles. “I changed my training. I trained very well and proper.”
Ethiopia’s Sule Utura Gedo won the women’s race in 2:33.49 by separating in the final mile from runner-up countrywoman Tsehay Desalegn (2:33.57) and defending champion Hellen Jepkurgat (2:34.01) of Kenya.
Five American women, led by fourth-place finisher Christina Vergara-Aleshire of Nevada, placed in the top 10 for the second consecutive year.
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Race participant Jose Lara of Houston, Texas, catches his breath after finishing the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Kenya’s Weldon Kirui finishes first in L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Race participant Jane Alexandru, 37, of Studio City, relaxes after finishing the L.A.Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Race participant Armando Osorio drops to his knees after crossing the finish line in Santa Monica during the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Race participant Jose Bustamante, center, is assisted by volunteers after finishing the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Race participants stretch and rest in Santa Monica after finishing the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Race participant Horacio Gonzalez, 42, of Los Angeles, stretches after finishing the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Runners warm up after finishing the L.A. Marathon in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Michael Bangora, left, and his wife Stephanie, of Canyon Lake, walk off together after finishing the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Elvis Presley impersonators run past mile 17 in the L.A. Marathon n Beverly Hills. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Participants run by an advertisement for American Idol along Hollywood Blvd. during the L.A. Marathon Sunday morning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Crowds run by a mural along Hollywood Blvd. during the L.A. Marathon Sunday morning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers run in full uniform and tactical gear past mile 17in the L.A. Marathon in Beverly Hills. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Competitors run through downtown Los Angeles during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A lone runner stops to stretch along Hollywood Blvd. during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Runners make their way down Santa Monica Blvd at mile 17 of the L.A. Marathon in Beverly Hills. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Discarded water cups along Hollywood Blvd. during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Competitors run past L.A. City Hall during the marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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An Marilyn Monroe impersonator runs past mile 17 in the L.A. Marathon in Beverly Hills. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Drummers pound a beat for runners in downtown during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A runner collects donations for Hurricane Irma and Maria victims while running at mile 17 in the L.A. Marathon in Beverly Hills. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Competitors run are reflected in a puddle of water along Hollywood Blvd. during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Crowds run along Hollywood Blvd. during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A runner carrying a tuba makes his way down Santa Monica Blvd at mile 17 of the L.A. Marathon in Beverly Hills. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Water is dumped after the last runners pass by during the L.A. Marathon. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Kenya’s Weldon Kirui pulls away for second L.A. Marathon victory in three years. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Ethiopia’s Sule Utura Gedo wins women’s elite with final-mile push. (Christina House / Los Angeles TImes)
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Competitors run past L.A. City Hall during the L.A. Marathon Sunday morning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A man runs in full firefighting turnout gear after the start of the 33rd L.A. Marathon. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Competitors run past Disney Hall during the L.A. Marathon Sunday morning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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The Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory frame runners in L.A. Marathon. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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A participant runs in a dinosaur costume at the start of the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Ed Ettinghausen holds up a sign to cheer on fellow runners near the downtown start of the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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A runner in clown costume at the start of the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Runners start the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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The elite men start the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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The elite men start the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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The elite women begin their phase of the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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The hand-cycle racers begin their portion of the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Wheelchair racers start the L.A. Marathon at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Warming up for the L.A. Marathon, sisters Nelida and Erika Luna do jumping jacks near the start at Dodger Stadium on March 18. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
A field of more than 24,000 was entered in the marathon that weaved through downtown — where at one point Kirui and the elite men nearly barreled over a woman carrying mail through a crosswalk — on its way to the beach.
The temperature was a cool 47 degrees at the start, giving the runners a break from the typical March thermometer reading.
Instead of pursuing the marathon-record times of 2:06.35 and 2:25.10, however, the elite runners settled into packs for most of the race, the eventual winners obviously content to lean on their reserves as the ocean neared.
“I learned I must wait, to store my energy and leave it until the end,” Kirui said.
Barno remained close to Kirui through 20 miles; Kirui said after the race that he glanced at Barno and “thought I must win this race after my friend pushed me again side by side.”
Kirui accelerated the pace sharply, and Barno dropped about 30 feet behind Kirui and Adihana as they neared the two-hour mark. The defending champion might have compromised his endurance by running a marathon in Houston in January.
“I was trying to push the pace so I’d leave them, but it was very difficult,” Barno said; he had run a personal-best 2:09.32 in Houston on Jan. 14.
He turned to Kirui at the post-race news conference and said, “Congratulations, today he was a champion.”
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It became a virtual sprint to the finish as Kirui and Adihana posted their fastest two miles in the 22nd and 23rd miles, at 4:38 and 4:44, respectively.
Kirui grabbed a bottle of water from a table in the 24th mile, sipped strongly and whisked beyond Adihana, bolting through the 24th mile in 4:55, 16 seconds better than Adihana at the similar point he lost touch with Barno a year earlier.
Ethiopia’s Sule Utura Gedo crosses the finish line March 18 for her first victory in the L.A. Marathon.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times )
The women’s pack, loaded with Americans for an extended period, whittled to the three Africans.
Gedo, a 5,000-meter-trained runner whose coach has tailored her distance-running sessions for extreme hot and cold weather, embraced the cool and welcomed the slower pace to set up her finishing kick in the final 2,600 feet.
“I used that speed to win today,” she said.
She described the course’s hilly first half as “very difficult,” but said she kept her eye on the time, striving to remain in reach until the end.
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Jepkurgat said she wanted to pull away in the final three miles, but lamented, “Today was not my day. [Gedo] pushed. We tried to push with her. I didn’t make it. Today seemed more uphill, not like last year.”
At the 25-mile mark, she said, it was clear that a repeat victory was not in the cards for her.
