FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ukrainian Mykola Antonenko Dominates 26th Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
Svetlana Ponomarenko Lead Women's Race From the Start
(Minneapolis) – After leading the pack from the start, Mykola Antonenko
increased the overall pack pace by mile two. Ed Eyestone called the race
for the elite men in the lead vehicle ahead of the pack. According to
Eyestone, Augustus Kavutu Mbusya put on the heat between miles 5 and 6, but
Antonenko broke away at mile 7. By the half-marathon mark, race officials
say he maintained at least a minute lead ahead of the rest of the pack,
finishing with a time of 2:13:54.
Antonenko said he was happy with his race, but didn't achieve his goal
today. "Psychologically it's hard to do your goal time by yourself. If I
had a group of people pulling me, I could have reached my 2:11 goal," he
said.
"It was a gutsy, courageous effort on his part to go for it on day that was
a bit warm," said Eyestone. Joseph Mutinda finished second with a time of
2:20:12 and Mbusya was third with a time of 2:21:13.
Temperatures were warm at the start, which didn't seem to slow the women's
race. Carrie Tollefson called the women's race and said Svetlana
Ponomarenko took the lead from the horn, with Sharon Cherop battling for
first through the ½ marathon mark. Alena Vinitskaya pulled into 2nd place
at about mile 25, according to Tollefson. But it wasn't enough to go
ahead, and Ponomarenko crossed the finish line with a time of 2:34:09.
Vinitskaya told race officials she tends to start her race a little slow,
but was able to pull ahead. "Overall, I felt pretty good. This was my
first time running the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and I loved the
course. I closed in at mile 25 and was happily surprised to finish
second," she said of her 2:38:23 finish. Cherop finished third with a time
of 2:38:45.
USATF Masters Women's Champion Susan Loken made it a "three-peat" today.
After finishing first as master's champion in 2005 and 2006, she returned
to the Twin Cities with the goal of a 3rd straight title. And that she
did. The 44-year old finished with a 2:48:36 and told race officials the
humidity affected her race a bit, but today's warmer temperatures weren't a
problem as she trains in her home town of Phoenix, Arizona. Loken
maintained a solid lead against her masters competition. 2nd Place
finisher Dorren , came in a full six-minutes behind at 2:54:39 and course
regular Meghan Arbogast finished 3rd .
Tracy Lokken picked up the USATF Master's Men's Championship title today
with a winning time of 2:29:00. Danny Martinez finished 2nd at 2:30:56 and
Dennis Simonaitis was third with a finish of 2:35:31.
In the wheelchair race, Tyler Byers of Sterling, Virginia finished with a
1:45:59 and Tricia Downing picked up the win for the women with a first
place time of 2:30:15.
Minnesota winners finished strong today. Josh Metcalf, 32, of Glencoe,
Minn. finished in 2:28:26 and Angie Voight, of Minneapolis, came in with a
2:54:53 finishing time. For a complete list of results, visit
mtcmarathon.org.
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