New Course Record at Urban Cow?
This past Sunday, Paul Ngeny of Auburn (by way of Kenya) came to town and ran away with a commanding win of the now officially huge Urban Cow Half-Marathon.
Ngeny’s time of 1:07:51 was announced as a new course record, leaving this reporter confused as the race’s website lists Dennis Rinde’s 1982 course record as 1:05:38. (We promise to post an update when we figure this out.)
UPDATE: Race Director Rich Hanna explains that Dennis Rinde’s record is the “Race Record” set on the old Sacramento marathon course, but Ngeny’s time is the new course record for the Cowtown/Urban Cow course.
Following up in second and third were Chad Worthen of Sacramento and Ben Deland of Pleasanton, who finished in 1:13:17 and 1:14:35, respectively.
In the women’s race, masters runners dominated with Midori Sperandeo, of Folsom, picking up the win in 1:20:17, and Jenny Hitchings, of Sacramento, coming in second with 1:23:34.
Janine Marello, also from Sacramento, was the first non-masters woman, coming in third with a 1:27:55.
In the 5Km, the winning woman, and new course record holder, was yet another masters runner. Mary Coordt of Elk Grove took top honors with her 17:58.
The top man in the 5Km was local speedster Mike Styczynski of Sacramento who finished in 15:57. (You can read about Styczynski’s race in his excellent blog post.)
All in all, the race was large but well organized, the volunteers were abundant and the weather was perfect. I also understand the Urban Cow Pace Team was excellent.
Full Urban Cow results are here.