Mexican distance runner Adriana Fernandez (© Getty Images)
Poland's Dorota Gruca produced the first ever sub 2:30-hour Marathon time on Latin American soil when she won the 6th Gran Maratón Pacífico, held at this Mexican Pacific coast resort on Sunday 28 November.
The 33 year-old Pole with a winning time of 2:28:49 demolished the previous best ever time set in Latin America (2:30:30), which was established by Mexican Adriana Fernández in Torreon, in March 2001.
Gruca who will celebrate her 34th birthday this Sunday (5 December), obviously also smashed the course record (2:32:53), set by South Africa's 1992 Olympic silver medallist Elana Meyer in 2001.
Taking the minor places on Sunday were Kenya's Margaret Karie (2:35:15) and Mexican Alicia Rodríguez (2:38:48).
Mexico based - national 10,000m record-holder
The winner who has established her training base at altitude in Toluca, Mexico commented, “I have been training hard in Mexico in the last two months and when I heard of this race, I wanted to win it and I did. Everything went well. I felt strong and the weather was excellent.”
Gruca has improved her personal bests at all her main track distances this year with a 15:18.75 for 5000m, and a 31:52.11 national record at 10,000m
At the marathon she clocked 2:34:23 when she won in Karstadt, Germany in May 2003, but was even faster (2:31:08) when third in Nagano, Japan in 2002.
Men’s title won in course record too
The men's title was taken by Mexico's Juan Gualberto Vargas in a new course record of 2:13:51, more than a minute faster than the 2:14:59 standard set by his countryman Juan Camacho Piña last year. Mexico's Miguel León (2:15:59) and Kenya's Kefah Keraro (2:16:33) were second and third.
The Pacífico running festival drew 5048 participants in the four distances contested: 5km, 10km, half and full marathons. The national 5km titles went to 2004 Olympian Alejandro Suarez (14:02) and Madai Perez (16:01). The half marathon wad dominated by Kenyans Isaack Kimaiyo (1:03:35) and Susan Muthoni (1:14:35). The 21km wheelchair winners were Mexico's Adrián Gordián (49:07) and Ariadne Herández (1:00:42).
