CHICAGO (AP) — Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia set a course record in winning the Chicago Marathon on Sunday morning.
Kebede pulled away late and was all alone, waving to the crowd as he approached the finish at Grant Park and crossing the line in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 38 seconds. That easily eclipsed the previous mark of 2:05:37 set by Kenya’s Moses Mosop last year and was more than enough to beat countryman Feyisa Lilesa.
The women’s race was also a thriller, with Atsede Baysa of Ethiopia edging Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo by about a step.
The two traded leads down the stretch, with Jeptoo briefly grabbing it as they turned into Grant Park and Baysa quickly regaining it.
She kept looking over her shoulder during the final stretch and barely hung on, with Jeptoo making one final push and raising her arms at the finish line.
Baysa broke the tape, though, finishing in 2:22:03, one second ahead of Jeptoo.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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