Ethiopia woman wins her division with American Ko taking third

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Midway through the race Sunday, Kenya’s Jacob Chemtai began conversing with the small pack of runners next to him, far ahead of the rest of the field. By the end of the race, Chemtai had no one to talk to, as he had built a significant lead in front of the competitors who managed to keep pace with him an hour earlier.

With a final time of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds, Chemtai finished first among men in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. It was his first time participating in the event.

“I came here determined to do what I always have in practice,” he said through his translator. “Everything went according to plan today.”

Chemtai was in a pack of eight runners who led the field at the beginning of the race, running through chilly winds under gray skies.

He and fellow Kenyan Betram Keter, who finished second, were neck and neck after the 20th-mile marker, followed by Kenyan Kipkoech Ruto, who won the 2016 Pittsburgh Marathon, and Ethopian Musa Babo Ido, who finished fifth Sunday. By then, the gray clouds had mostly given way to blue skies, though the chilly winds persisted.

After the 22-mile marker, Chemtai pulled in front of Keter and built a substantial lead, which he would keep for the duration of the race.

Though the four runners engaged in friendly banter before Chemtai and Keter separated themselves, Chemtai said no preexisting friendship existed before the race. He and his competitors were merely gauging each other.

“The only thing that connected them was the distance,” Chemtai’s translator said. “They didn’t know anything coming here, but were going the same distance. Pretty much the same goal: to finish and finish well. They were trying to talk and help each other out. That’s the extent of it, no friendship before this.”

Tyler Jermann had the top American finish for men for the second consecutive year with a fourth-place time of 2:16:52. He finished a second behind Ethopian Fikadu Girma Teferi, and the two were engaged in an all-out sprint during the final portion of the race.

Leading the women was Ethopian Ayantu Dakebo Hailemaryam, who placed first for the second consecutive year with a time of 2:36:20. Rounding out the top three were Ethopian Bizuwork Getahun Kasaye and Phebe Ko, who was the fastest American woman in the marathon for the second consecutive year at 2:45:59.

Ko, who finished second in the marathon in 2009 and 2010, took a four-year break from competitive running to complete the residency and fellowship stages of medical school. She now works full time as