Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon: Antonenko and Ponomarenko Win Sweltering Races

Men's Results:

1st ... 2004 TCM Runner-Up Mykola Antonenko runs 2:13:54
2nd ... Joseph Mutinda ... 2:20:12
3rd ... Augustus Kuvutu Mbusya (2004 TCM Champ) ... 2:21:13

Antonenko took the race lead when the course left Lake Harriet to head west on Minnehaha Parkway ... and he held the lead until the finish line! The Ukrainian clipped off a run of seven straight of sub-5:00 miles down the parkway to build his lead.

He ran five-ohs down the stretch to win with an impressive time considering the day's tropical conditions. He won by more than six minutes and was the only runner to break 2:20 on the day.

Women's Results:

1. Svetlana Ponomarenko ... 2:34:09
2. Alena Vinitskaya ... 2:38:23
3. Sharon Cherop ... 2:38:45

DtB contributor Chad Austin -- he of the fine Running Minnesota blog -- was on the course keeping an eye on the women's competition. Here's what he saw stop-by-stop. (Chad followed the race on his bike.) He cautioned that all splits but those at 13.1M are "very unofficial."

3 miles ... Ponomarenko 17:16 ... Cherop right with her ... Akor and Lewy Boulet together in 17:26 ... Chelimo in 5th at 17:53 ... Then came: Fryburg, Friedman, Semenova, Shurkhno, Pawelek 18:38, Voight 19:38.

7 miles ... Ponomarenko leads with Cherop directly behind her, 39:57 ... Akor and Lewy Boulet are alrealy 90 seconds back in 41:27 ... The leaders put 80 seconds on 3rd and 4th in that 4 mile stretch.

10 miles ... The first 6 women are working in twosomes: Cherop appeared to be making Ponomarenko do all the work, 57:17 ... I may have missed Vinitskaya earlier in the race. I believe she was in third here with Lewy Boulet, 59:05 ... Akor and Friedman are together in 59:45 ... Chelimo 59:52 ... Semenova 1:00:27 ... Shurkhno 1:00:45 ... Fryburg 10th in 1:00:47 ... Cretti 1:00:58 ... Deweese 1:02:23 ... Loken 1:02:31 ... Pawelek 1:03:18.

Half Marathon ... Ponomarenko must have gotten tired of having a shadow, as she put 19 seconds on Cherop over the last 5K, 1:15:20 to 1:15:39 ... 3rd Vinitskaya 1:17:50 ... Friedman 1:18:37 ... 5th Lewy Boulet 1:18:51 (Note: Friedman put 54 seconds on Lewy Boulet in 5K) ... Chelimo 1:19:04 ... No sign of Akor [Editor: The Grandma's champ, not fully recovered from an illness she suffered last week, told DtB she felt poorly from early on could not continue beyond the 12th mile.] ... 7th Cretti 1:20:10 ... Semenova 1:20:59 ... Fryburg 1:21:12 ... 10th Loken 1:22:21 ... Deweese 1:22:25 ... Stouffer 1:24:08 ... 13th Pawelek 1:24:30 ... Erholtz 1:24:50 ... McCoubrie 1:25:05 ... 16th Voight 1:25:12.

Mile 21 ... Ponomarenko now up 2:30 over Cherop, 2:02:02, 2:04:32 ... Vinitskaya has only cut into 2nd place by 33 seconds over the last 8 miles, she's still 1:38 back in 2:06:10 ... Friedman 2:08:07 ... 5th Cretti 2:09:36 ... Chelimo 2:10:07 ... 7th Loken 2:13:44 ... Semenova 2:16:40 ... 9th Voight 2:17:48

Complete results can be found HERE.

You can read Bruce Brother Pioneer Press story -- do it for the first paragraph alone! -- HERE.

Kent Youngblood's Star-Tribune story is HERE.

You can read the AP's story in the Star-Tribune HERE.

Photo of Ponomarenko courtesy of TCM and Paul Phillips, Competitive Image.