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Record-setting day at the Chevron Houston Marathon

Posted January 15th, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Danielle Correa

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Yesterday was an eventful and record-setting day in Houston, Texas - with nearly 20,000 runners participating in the thirty-fifth annual Chevron Houston Marathon .

This year’s first-place winner for the women’s marathon was Ethiopia’s Dire Tune. Tune set a new course with a time of 2:26:52; beating Ingrid Kristiansen’s previous record of 2:27:51, which was set in 1984. The runner’s up included Beata Rakonczai Hun of Hungary (2:30:14) and last year’s winner Firiya Sultanova-Zhdanova (2:39:06).

In the men’s race, Feyisa Tusse of Morocco took first place with a time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 39 seconds. Mikhail Khobotov (2:13:56) and Benson Cheruiyot (2:14:03) finished second and third, respectively.

The Chevron Houston Marathon is a combination of competitive athletic events that has featured about 170,000 runners over the past 34 years. It is Houston’s largest running competition and their most watched single-day sporting event.

The marathon consists of two different races. One, which is for participants in wheelchairs and another that is directed towards the marathon runners. The athletes are given a time limit of up to six hours. This race is a 26.2-mile journey that starts out in scenic neighborhoods and continues its course through parks, universities, various shopping areas, and finally ends in the downtown area of Houston.

The Aramco Houston Half Marathon also took place and also served as the 2007 U.S. Half-Marathon Championships. As we reported yesterday, Ryan Hall, a 24 year old from California, won with an incredible time of 59 minutes and 43 seconds. This running time broke the North American Half Marathon record in Houston. Hall’s runners up included Fasil Bizuneh, running in at 1:02:20, and Dan Browne ending at 1:02:22. Elva Dryer took first place for the women’s race running in at 1:11:41 with her Olympic teammate, Kate O’Neill finishing immediately after her at 1:11:46. Michelle Lilienthal took third place running in at 1:12:44.

Many companies and community residents of Houston sponsor this annual event and give money to raise the funding for local charities. While competing, the runners are entertained by a unique “Hoopla Brigade” in addition to the cheering from the public. The Brigade consists of performers that include tight-tope walkers and jazz bands that entertain and motivate the runners to continue running in the right direction in order to finish the race.

These Houston events have drawn large crowds and have gained unimaginable amounts of support and funding from spectators and companies everywhere especially from Houston. These races will continue to take place every year with new and returning determined athletes with the passion and motivation to finish strong.

Research sources and for more information: [Houston Chronicle], [Official Race Site], [IAAF]