Scotland's Andrew Lemonchello wins Las Vegas Marathon
LAS VEGAS (AP) Scotland's Andrew Lemonchello won the Las Vegas Marathon on Sunday night in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 47 seconds in cold wind and rain.
Panama's Williana Rojas won the women's race in 3:08.18.
The 33-year-old Lemonchello, an Olympic steeplechase competitor in 2008, pulled away with 10 miles left. With the weather and little competition, he slowed off pace.
''The winds were ferocious out there,'' said Lemonchello, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. ''It's always hard running by yourself. Today with the wind, you play mental games with yourself. You keep saying to yourself, `one more mile, one more mile.'''
Tommy Rivers Puzey, also from Flagstaff, was second at 2:34.36.
The 22-year-old Rojas, originally from Venezuela, held off Canada's Jen Annett by 19 seconds.
''(The wind) was like running into a wall,'' Rojas said through an interpreter. ''The race was too windy and I'm not used to this being from the tropics. I've been working very hard.''
In the half marathon, Jeffery Eggleston of Boulder, Colorado, won the men's race in 1:04.40, and Jennifer Bergman of Portland, Oregon, took the women's title in 1:15.22.
Teddy Kassa of Torrance, California won the men's 10-kilometer race in 33.37, and Emily Schulik of Houston topped the women's field 41.24.
