Kenyan smashes ’81 course record
Mwanzau wins Litchfield race
LITCHFIELD — Catherine Mwanzau is 19 years old. Sunday, she broke a course record at the Litchfield Hills Road Race that was twice as old as her.
Mwanzau, who came to the U.S. from Kenya on May 24, finished the 7.1-mile race in 38:11, breaking the 1981 women’s record set by Patti Catalano Dillon (38:27).
Mwanzau said she didn’t know what the record was before the race, but she was happy she won. She has run four road races since she came to the United States; she won all four and also broke a 27-year-old course record in a 10K in Huntsville, Ala., over Memorial Day weekend.
She broke away from the runner-up, Feyne Gudeto Gemeda of Ethiopia, Sunday around the 3-mile mark. Gemeda finished in 38:46.
“The course was tough,” Mwanzau said. “I said in my mind, at 3 miles, I open a lead.”
Eluid “Heldy” Ngetich of Kenya won the overall race for a record fifth time in 34:21, his second-fastest time on the course.
“It feels good,” said Ngetich, 25, who first won the race in 2013 in 33:54. “I had a good training. When you have a good training, it gives you confidence when you show up in a race.
“It’s a beautiful town, great organizers. They’re always welcoming. They make me feel at home.”
He was injured last year and finished fifth in 34:43.
There were 1,275 entrants in the 43rd annual race, held on a beautiful, if a tad warm, Sunday.
Jimmy Fallon of Walpole, Massachusetts, was back to run with his wife, Mimi, on the 30th anniversary of his Litchfield win. He has stayed with the same family, the Bunnells, every year for over 30 years.
“When I first went there, they had two young kids who are now like 34, 35, and they’ve had two others and I’ve seen the family grown up,” said Fallon, 59, who has run Litchfield 34 of the last 36 years and finished in 48:32 Sunday. “I’ve always said to family members, ‘Don’t anyone get married this weekend.’ ”
Ngetich led from start to finish. Ethiopians Tariku Demelash Abe (34:30) and Urgesa Kedir Figa (34:50) were second and third.
Tyler Pennel of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, one of three ZAP Fitness team runners, was fourth (34:56) after taking second last year. It was the first race in 11 months for Pennel, 31, after a hip injury sidelined him.
“It was good to get out there and move the legs quick,” Pennel said. “[The] Gallows Lane [hill at the end] is always tough. I was here last year, so I knew what to expect. It’s a fun race.”
His teammates, Aaron Nelson and Josh Izewski, agreed. It was their first time at Litchfield. Izewski was sixth (35:12) and Nelson seventh (35:40).
“It was a great race,” Izewski said. “These smalltown races like this, where the entire town comes out, is really cool, especially when people are coming back home to just experience it.”
Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.