Broad Street results: Murage repeats as top woman; Maiyo leads men

JANE MURAGE looks like a strong wind would topple her.

Put the 5-2, 95-pound Kenyan at the front of the Blue Cross Broad Street Run field, however, and she is tough to beat.

In the 30th annual 10-mile Broad Street race yesterday, Murage repeated as the women's winner. Running in a light rain, she was clocked in 53 minutes 31 seconds. Buznesh Deba was a distant second, in 54:44.

Linus Maiyo, another Kenyan who was making his Broad Street debut, was the overall winner in 47:21.

Through 5 miles, Murage was on a pace to break Catherine Ndereba's 10-year-old women's course record of 53:07. Murage passed the halfway mark in 26:18.

"I was thinking of breaking the course record," Murage said. "But [with no one pushing her] my pace was slow."

Murage, 22, said one of her goals yesterday was to improve her time over last year's 54:16. Mission accomplished.

Another motivation for earning the $1,500 winner's check was a cheesesteak. Lisa Buster, the manager for Murage and Maiyo, said they are treated to cheesesteaks if they win.

Asked how many cheesesteaks she consumes annually, Murage smiled and said, "One."

Murage's other U.S. victories include last year's Ben Franklin Bridge 10K, another 10K in Cleveland and an 8K in Richmond, Va.

When Murage is in the United States, she and other Kenyan runners are based in Royersford. During a recent stay, the youthful looking Murage went to Norristown on a week day to purchase a phone card. Buster said police stopped her and asked why she wasn't in school. Murage had to return to her home to produce a passport.

Murage is the first repeat Broad Street Run women's winner since Renee Shields (1985-87).

The men's race yesterday was much closer than the women's. Maiyo and Worku Beyi were side by side in the homestretch inside the Naval Business Center. Maiyo spurted shortly before the finish line to win by 4 seconds.

"I tried to push it a bit and had a finishing kick," Maiyo said. "I decided to set my own pace from the start. The pace was fantastic for me."

Maiyo, 26, said the course record of 45:14, set 2 years ago by Patrick Cheruiyot, was on his mind. But with Beyi challenging him, he decided to concentrate on beating Beyi and collecting the $1,500 winner's prize.

Maiyo had scouted the course 2 years ago when he rode in the press truck during the race.

Maiyo's best 10K time is 27:36 (in 2003). He has run a 1:02.40 half marathon and a 2:12.53 marathon.

Carlos Martins, 40, of Kearny, N.J., was the top-finishing masters runner (24th overall) in 53:07. Andrey Kuznetsov holds the course masters record of 50:13 (2002). *