Denver Marathon winners forget chill, enjoy thrill of victory

DENVER -- It was cold and wet for everyone but Kenya’s Jonathan Ndambuki and Ecuador’s Martha Tenorio made the best of it by winning the second Denver Marathon on Sunday.

Drizzling rain and temperatures in the high 30s added to runners’ times.

“The weather was really tough,” Ndambuki said. “You can’t run as hard or move as fast when it’s this cold.”

Ndambuki, who trains in Santa Fe, N.M., was the winner of the 2006 California International Marathon, and runner-up at three other races last year. He won in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 34 seconds. Fellow Kenyan Charles Kiplagat was 13 seconds back in second place.

“In terms of performance and quality, this is the best we’ve seen in Colorado in over 20 years,” Denver Marathon professional athlete coordinator and running coach Rich Castro said.

Jose Amado Garcia of Guatemala took first in the men’s half-marathon in 1:08:45, five minutes before the second-place finisher.

“I only started to get cold at the end,” the 30-year-old Garcia said. “Today was a good effort for me, but a little slow.”

Garcia, who won a silver medal at last summer’s Pan American Games, is training for the Boston Marathon in April 2008 and the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Gunnison resident and two-time U.S. Olympian Elva Dryer won the women’s half-marathon in 1:19:07.

“I felt pretty good,” Dryer, 36, said. “I’m training for the New York Marathon, so it was just so great to have a ton of people out running instead of going alone.”

Tenorio, 40, who trains in Boulder and is a three-time Olympian with a personal-best 2:27:58, finished in 2:46:41. Lakewood’s Patty Rogers was second in 2:54:25.

“It was very cold, and very wet,” Tenorio said. “But I trained hard and I’m happy with my time considering the weather.”

Designed by Boston Marathon and Denver Marathon race director Dave McGillivray, the course went past many city landmarks. Runners began in front of the State Capitol, and passed the Denver Art Museum on the way to Larimer Square, Pepsi Center, Union Station and Coors Field. The final leg wound through three city parks before finishing on Santa Fe Drive in Civic Center Park.

“The course is fantastic, and the marathon has a great big-race feel,” Dryer said.

The event drew 4,790 runners from 13 countries and 47 states, and included a relay, the half-marathon and traditional 26.2-mile course.

Notes

Top Colorado Springs marathon finishers were Mindy Kiepke (3:22:39 and Belden Schroeder (3:10:48). ... 1974 Harrison High School graduate Lisa Spence finished in 4:49:42. Spence completed her goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states by the age of 50.