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Press Release - City of Los Angeles Marathon - 3/18/24

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

        Stacy Ndiwa, Dominic Ngeno win the 2024 Los Angeles Marathon 
                             presented by ASICS                    

Running Icon Joan Benoit Samuelson welcomes McCourt Foundation Marathon 
Chase Champion Stacy Ndiwa of Kenya across the finish line in 2:25:28; 
Kenyan Dominic Ngeno wins men's marathon 2:11:00 on a St. Patrick's Day 
Sunday

LOS ANGELES - March 17, 2024 - It was appropriate that there was a smiling 
Joan Benoit Samuelson holding the finishing tape as defending champ Stacy 
Ndiwa and fellow Kenyan Dominic Ngeno won the 39th annual Los Angeles 
Marathon presented by ASICS on Sunday.

"It was Joanie who put us on the map here in Los Angeles," McCourt 
Foundation President Brian McCourt said as the first of the 26,000 entrants 
began streaming across the Century City finish area.

Benoit's courageous front-running performance in winning the gold medal in 
the first women's Olympic marathon 40 years ago in Los Angeles shattered 
barriers and helped spur the explosive growth of marathoning 
worldwide-especially for women. There was courageous racing all through the 
sold-out field on Sunday in Los Angeles, from the elite front runners to 
the first-time marathoners, who comprised some 40 percent of the field and 
helped raise $3 million for the 92 charities the Los Angeles Marathon 
benefits.

Start with Ndiwa (2:25:28) and Ngeno (2:11:00), who dedicated their wins to 
their late countryman Kelvin Kiptum, the marathon world record holder who 
died on Feb. 11 in a traffic accident in Kenya. Ndiwa waited patiently as 
two-time Olympic fifth-place finisher Olga Mazuronak (2:25:48), a Belarus 
native now living in Irvine, Calif, joined American fifth-place finisher 
Makena Morley (2:30:24) at the front of a six-women pack that clicked off 
steady 5K splits right at 17:17.

After Morley dropped back near mile 16, Mazuronak, 34, led nearly every 
step of the way until a patient Ndiwa, 31, accelerated at mile 25 along 
Santa Monica Boulevard to seal her second consecutive win. Mazuronak 
finished 20 seconds back, followed by Boston marathon and two-time Chicago 
marathon winner Atsede Bayisa of Ethiopia in 2:25:57.

Ngeno was part of a five-man pack that rolled through some torrid early 
miles, perhaps spurred by the downhill start from Dodger Stadium and the 
unique Marathon Chase, in which the women start before the men, and which 
awards $10,000 to the first person, female or male, crossing the line. (The 
men started earlier than planned, but Ndiwa won the Marathon Chase for the 
second time). For much of the race, it was five men chasing four women, the 
gap between them diminishing each mile.

Ngeno used a 4:48 mile to break up the men's pack past mile 20, with only 
fellow Kenyan Cosmas Kiplimo able to match the move. The two matched 
strides until Ngeno took the lead after the turn onto San Vicente 
Boulevard, grimacing the rest of the way through the Brentwood neighborhood 
and continuously glancing over his shoulder on his way to winning in 
2:10:20, five seconds in front of Kiplimo.

Morley, who missed the U.S. Olympic marathon trials because of an injury, 
was running just her second marathon. It was a learning experience, as the 
more experienced marathoners let her set the pace with Mazuronak.

"It was awesome. I mean, it was really great energy with that lead pack, 
said Morley, 27. "I feel like we were all kind of trading off leads and 
just really taking good energy from each other. They put in a big surge at 
15 or 16 miles and I kind of got dropped off at that point. I tried to kind 
of hang in there, but those hills were definitely getting to me. I just 
tried to kind of hang on and, the last six were pretty tough, but I was 
happy to be able to finish as strong as I could."

Colombia's Francisco Sanclemente (1:37:14) won his second straight title in 
the wheelchair division, while Hannah Babaloa, of Champaign, Illinois, was 
the women's wheelchair champion in 2:19:23.

As for the 66-year-old Benoit Samuelson, who just ran a 3:38:37 at the 
Tokyo Marathon on March 3, she loves how running has grown and evolved over 
the past 40 years.

"I'm just delighted to be back here 40 years later," Benoit Samuelson said. 
"I'm not sure where those 40 years went, but they went and, we just have to 
keep running forward and looking forward. The sport's in great hands now 
with all the up and coming athletes. The fact that I can still put one foot 
in front of the other and burn with the same passion that I did 40 years 
ago to me is a real gift."

The 40th running of the Los Angeles Marathon presented by ASICS is set for 
Sunday, March 16, 2025 and runners can take advantage of a special presale 
registration while supplies last. For complete results, photos and more, 
visit LAMarathon.com.
    
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