Omwenga, Kibor win Manitoba Marathon

Thomas Omwenga of Kenya won the 34th running of the Manitoba Marathon on Sunday in 2:25.13.

Omwenga, who currently resides in Hamilton, Ont., also ran the Ottawa marathon in late May, where he placed 11th in 2:18.46.

“The course is good, flat, except that you know running throughout it, I was alone and so it’s mental,” Omwenga told local reporters. With no one to push him for much of the race, Omwenga was left to hang on for a modest time. He has run 20 marathons, won ten of them and has a personal best of 2:10.24.

Second place overall went to local runner Brian Walker of Winnipeg in 2:33.18. Bradley Keefe, also of Winnipeg, rounded out the top 3 in 2:42.10.

On the women’s side Anna Kibor, also originally from Kenya and currently residing in Hamilton, won the marathon. She also placed ninth overall in the race.

This was the first marathon for Kibor in two years, after recovering from a kneed injury. The 38-year-old ran a solid race in 2:49.45. Not far behind her was Nadyia Fry of Invermere, B.C., in 2:51.14, followed by local Cathy Cullen in 2:54.37.

Local runner Corey Gallagher won the half-marathon in 1:10.13. He was the runner up in 2011, behind Brian Walker.

Toronto’s Kate Gustafson won the women’s half-marathon in 1:23:22.

More more than 13,000 runners participating in six different events over the course of the weekend in Winnipeg.