CLEVELAND — It’s not about the start, but rather how one finishes, and that proved to be the case for Edwin Kimaiyo of Kenya on the home stretch of the 2019 Cleveland Marathon.
Despite falling off the torrid pace Philemon Terer set in the middle miles, Kimaiyo closed the gap, took the lead between mile-markers 23 and 24 and never looked back on the way to victory in the men’s marathon race.
Initially, Terer, of Kenya, got in the front of the pack early and as the race wound its way through the Downtown Cleveland, Tremont and Rocky River stretches over the first 13 miles, he built a substantial lead that grew until the runners made their final turn onto Detroit Road and ran the final three miles to the finish line at Public Square.
It was on the Tremont-Rocky River stretch where Terer pulled away from the field with a sub-six-minute mile average, but he kept looking back to see where other runners were, and it was over the home stretch that Kimaiyo claimed the lead and did not relinquish the advantage.
Along with Kimaiyo, Lakewood’s Ken Sullivan won both the men’s 10-kilometer and half-marathon races. Sullivan won the 10K in a time of 34:07, and then, finished off the victory in the 13.1-mile half-marathon. Sullivan had mile paces of 5:30 in the 10K and 5:22 in the half-marathon.
Barb Biltz of Huron, Ohio was the top women’s racer in the half-marathon event.
SEE PHOTOS | Moments from the 2019 Cleveland Marathon