(PhotoRun.net)

SAN DIEGO – June 3, 2012 – The 15^th annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon was a star-studded success.

Meb Keflezighi, winner of the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, appears ready for the London Games. The 37-year-old ran smoothly and effortlessly on Sunday, winning the Rock ’n’ Roll San Diego Half-Marathon in 1:03:11, his second consecutive victory in his adopted hometown. Ryan Hall, 29,  the U.S. record-holder for the half-marathon at 59:43, struggled because of plantar faciaitis in his left foot, and finished a distant second in 1:05:39.

The women’s half-marathon was won by New Zealand Olympian Kim Smith in 1:08:37, a time that would have placed her seventh among the men.

Nixon Machichim of Kenya broke away with a little over two miles remaining and won the men’s Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon in 2:10:03.  Russia’s Alevtina Ivanova also made a late burst and won the women’s marathon in 2:27:44. The men’s and women’s marathon champions each earned $25,000.

More than 30,000 entrants from all 50 states and 40 countries were greeted with ideal running weather on Sunday morning. The men’s half-marathon was the keynote event, expected to be a tense duel between the two Olympians. But after about a mile, it was no contest. Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, pulled away and the suffering Hall could not keep up.

“I wanted to go out early because I know how the race will be in London,” Keflezighi said. “I tried to duplicate what it will be like there.”

The San Diego course is similar to London in that it has several turns and downhills.

“This was not a do-or-die race, but I’m a competitor,” Keflezighi said.  “I’m not a guy who likes to sit back and waits to kick in the last mile.”

There was no need for a closing kick this time, as Keflezighi kept widening his lead as the race progressed. As the confident Keflezighi crossed the finish line, he was greeted by a large contingent of family and friends, including his father and one of his brothers, who lifted him onto their shoulders. Also along the course, there were groups of people urging him on, shouting “Olympics, Olympics, Olympics.”

“It’s always good to be back in San Diego,” said Keflezighi, who ran his first professional race here last year, after having grown up and matured in the Southern California city.

Keflezighi’s coach, Bob Larsen, generally was satisfied with his protégé’s performance. “He still has a lot of work to do,” Larsen said, “but so far so good.”

This was Keflezighi’s final race before the Olympics. From now on, it will be a lot of training. Keflezighi said his longest week of training this year consisted of 90 miles. Now, he wants to step it up to 100.

Hall, meanwhile, will be concentrating on improving his condition.

“I believe it’s going to get better before the Olympics,” he said of his painful injury. “Running with Meb always is an honor. He has the heart of a champion. Meb always inspires me to get through these tough moments.”

Hall admitted he made a mistake in this race. “It was too quick for me,” he said. “I shouldn’t have gone out that fast. The course beat me up. It wasn’t my best day. I was hurting the last part of the course. It felt like my foot was glued to the ground. I felt like a one-legged horse.”

“Now, I’ll just have to train for the Olympics,” he added.

In the women’s half-marathon, Smith, 30, ran unchallenged, winning by nearly seven minutes over runner-up Ariana Hilborn of Scottsdasle, Ariz. (1:15:32). Smith’s time fell a little short of the 1:07:11 she set at Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia last year, the fastest time ever run on American soil.

“This is a lot harder course than Philadelphia,” she said. “But it was a good, hard run. It was good preparation for the Olympics. It’s hard to push yourself when there are no other women around.”

The men’s marathon was a more competitive race, with about a half-dozen runners still in contention with just over two miles remaining. Then, Machichim took charge and won by 11 seconds over second-place finisher Desta Gebrehiwot of Ethiopia (2:10:14). Jeffrey Eggleston of Flagstaff, Ariz., was the best American, finishing eighth in 2:13:13.

“I was ready to go,” Machichim said. “I was expecting to run 2:09. But the last half of the course was hard.  I don’t like the hills, I like to run on a straight course.”

Ivanova had not planned to run in San Diego, joining the women’s marathon field only about two weeks ago. Her original plan was to run in Ottawa on May 27, but that race fell through when she couldn’t obtain a Canadian visa (she has a U.S. visa). Meseret Legesse of Ethiopia finished second at 2:28:01, and Whitney Patton of San Marcos, Calif., was the top American, eighth at 2:49:50.

A translator said Ivanova, 37, ran well because she liked the cool conditions in San Diego on Sunday. “She said she was very happy because it is difficult for Russians to run in the heat,” the translator said.

Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego – Results

Place, Name, Age, Country, Time, Prize

Marathon

Men

1. Nixon Machichim, 29, Kenya, 2:10:03, $25,000

2. Desta Gebrehiwot, 23, Ethiopia, 2:10:14, $17,500

3. Tesfaye Sendeku, 28, Ethiopia, 2:11:18, $10,000

4. Weldon Kirui, 23, Kenya, 2:11:28, $7,500

5. Patrick Ivuti, 33, Kenya, 2:11:39, $5,000

Women

1. Alevtina Ivanova, 37, Russia, 2:27:44, $25,000

2. Meseret Legesse, 24, Ethiopia, 2:28:01, $17,500

3. Woynishet Girma, 24, Ethiopia, 2:33:59, $10,000

4. Silvia Skvortsova, 37, Russia, 2:34:10, $7,500

5. Lyudmila Biktasheva, 37, Russia, 2:34:18, $5,000

Half Marathon

Men

1. Meb Keflezighi, 37, USA, 1:03:11

2. Ryan Hall, 29, USA, 1:05:39

3. Cesar Lizano, 30, Costa Rica, 1:07:28

Women

1. Kim Smith, 30, New Zealand, 1:08:37

2. Ariana Hilborn, 31, USA, 1:15:32

3. Lindsay Tollefson,USA, 1:18:47

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(Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — June 1, 2012 – Don’t confuse the Robert Cheruiyot who won the 2010 Boston Marathon with the Robert Cheruiyot, who won the Boston Marathon in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The first and last names are the same, but that’s one of the few resemblances. The more recent Boston winner is 23, the other is 32. The 2010 winner’s middle name is Kiprono, the other’s is Kipkoech. The younger Cheruiyot will be heading a strong professional field for Sunday’s 15th annual Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon. The other Cheruiyot will not be competing.

“We are not related,”  Kiprono said on Friday. “I’m not the one who won Boston four times. But now I have done it and I’m very happy to have done it.”

Both Cheruiyots live in Kenya, but a great distance apart. The older one lives in Nairobi, the younger in the village of Sarucha.

When Kiprono returned to his little township two years ago after his Boston triumph, he was greeted like a conquering hero. He estimates that about 20,000 people from villages all around his home base turned out to greet him and threw him a celebratory party. They also presented him with five cows, which he gave to his mother. Should he win in San Diego on Sunday, the celebration won’t be as large, but it will be significant, he said.

Cheruiyot will be fighting some difficult odds in his San Diego debut. One, he still is recovering from a right hip injury that prevented him from running Boston again in April. Secondly, his preparation for the race was disrupted when his luggage was misplaced on the long trip from Nairobi through Amsterdam and Atlanta to San Diego, preventing him from doing his usual workout Friday morning.

Still, he is confident. “I don’t want to say I will win, but I will do my best to improve my time,” he said. “If we (the other top runners in the field) run together, maybe we can run 2:07. If the humidity is good, we can run good. If not, I will do my best.”

Cheruiyot’s best marathon time is 2:05:52 from his Boston victory, a clocking that broke the course record at the time. He ran each of his first four marathons in 2:07:30 or better. He made his international marathon debut in 2008 at Frankfurt, Germany, and won in a course record 2:07:21.

Sunday’s entrants include Pastrick Ivuti of Kenya, a winner at Chicago, Prague and Honolulu, with a best time of 2:07:46; William Kipsang of Kenya, a winner at Rotterdam with a PR of 2:05:49; and Ambesse Tolosa of Ethiopia, the San Diego champion in 2006. The top American is Jeffrey Eggleston of Flagstaff, Ariz., winner of the 2011 Pittsburgh Marathon.

Heading the women’s marathon field are Azelosh Woldeslasse of Ethiopia, who has a best of 2:25:23; Alevtiva Ivanova of Russia, a winner of the Nagano (Japan) Marathon; and Woynishet Garma of Ethiopia, last year’s Honolulu champion. Topping the U.S. list is  Ashley Grosse of  Palo Alto, Calif.

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(Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE)

**UPDATE: Flanagan has withdrawn from the race.

SAN DIEGO – (May 28, 2012) – Famous for lining race routes with live bands and cheerleaders, the original Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon & ½ Marathon will celebrate its 15th birthday on Sunday, June 3, 2012. The 2012 event will feature half of the six-member U.S. Olympic Marathon team to the same event less than two months before the London Games, securing the women’s Olympic Marathon Trials winner Shalane Flanagan for Sunday’s half-marathon.

“Once they qualified for the Olympic team, I knew they would be focusing on London,” said Matt Turnbull, elite athlete recruiter who expects two a highly competitive races Sunday even though the big prize ahead is London. “We identified a couple of the runners who I knew would fit our race. It was good timing. The half-marathon is good timing for their full marathon and San Diego fits in that category. Of course, these guys have London in mind, but knowing their personalities, they don’t like to get beat.”

The women’s race should boil down to a clash between Flanagan and Kim Smith, the New Zealand Olympian and owner of the fastest women’s half-marathon in the United States, 1:07:11, last year at Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia.

“I’m excited to run in the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half-Marathon,” Flanagan, 30, said. “It’s a wonderful place to go and run. The climate will be just right and I’m really looking forward to it. This will be my fourth Rock ‘n’ Roll event, having done Philadelphia, San Antonio and Miami most recently. The race fits in perfectly to my schedule as I continue to prepare for the Olympic Marathon.”

Flanagan set an Olympic Trials record of 2:25:38 in only her second marathon, bettering the previous mark by 2:47. Her winning time was a PR by nearly three minutes. Sometimes, though, Flanagan can be her own worst enemy.

“My strength as a runner is also my greatest weakness,” she said. “Sometimes I am just too stubborn and aggressive.”

Against a veteran like Smith, she’ll have to be very aggressive.

The event will kick-off with the wheelchair invitational beginning at 6:10am on Sunday, June 3, followed by the Marathon, ½ Marathon and Two-Person Half Marathon Relay at 6:15am. Further information about Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego is available online at: Competitor.com.

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