Sacramento Running News

To the winners go the non-alcoholic beers. L-R Dereje Abera Ali, Julius Keter, Elisha Barno (Photo credit Alex Chiu)

By Ellen Moore

Kenya’s Elisha Barno made his move after the 20-mile mark, surging ahead of the lead pack at “The Wall” to win the 33rd annual California International Marathon in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 51 seconds on Sunday.

Serkalem Abrha of Ethiopia used a similar strategy, pushing ahead of the lead group and running alone for the last six miles to win the women’s race in 2:31:29.

Much of the drama happened behind the leaders, however, as the chase for the U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying mark played out in the women’s race.

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You may have heard there was a marathon in Los Angeles, yesterday.

I only mention the LA Marathon in this Sacramento publication because a lot of locals run it.

There are a few interesting things to report:

Deena Kastor, running her first marathon as a masters runner, finished third in 2:32:38. She was bested by Aleksandra Duliba, 27, of Belarus, who finished first in 2:26:07, and Zemzem Ahmed, 28, of Ethiopia, who finished second in 2:30:31.

Kenyan men swept the top three positions. Erick Mose, 26, was the winner in 2:09:43. Mose was followed in by Julius Keter, 24, in 2:10:30, and Nicholas Chelimo, 30, who finished in 2:10:42.

The top local man appears to be Christopher Malenab, 33, of Sacramento, who finished in 3:12:14. Curt Casazza, 41, of Cameron Park, who finished in 2:55:34. (Editor’s note: Multiple people contacted me to let me know that Curt Casazza was the first local finisher. We apologize for the error. This is not to take anything away from Christopher Malenab who ran a 20+ minute PR and should be very proud of himself.)

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