Kenyans Rutto, Limo notch first Bloomsday victories

SPOKANE - Don't trust your training partner.

That might be the motto of the 39th Lilac Bloomsday Run, at least in the men's race, as pre-race favorite Allan Kiprono, who was shooting for a rare third title here, failed on several tries to reel in his friend and training partner Lani Rutto. In the end, Rutto held off Kiprono's repeated surges and raced to an 11-second victory on the 7.46-mile course.

Rutto finished in 34 minutes, 22 seconds.

"I saw Allan following me, and I said OK, let's maintain," Rutto said. "And so I tried to maintain."

And while the men's race broke open early by virtue of some mid-race heroics by Rutto, the women's battle wasn't decided until the final 300 meters, when newcomer Cynthia Limo finally sprinted in front of two other contenders to capture her first Bloomsday crown.

The field of 46,913 who signed up for this year's Bloomsday were treated to ideal weather, with cloudless skies, virtually no wind, and temperatures at the start in the mid-40s.

The women's race turned into a three-woman, 300-meter sprint on the downhill homestretch on Monroe Street. Limo proved to have the edge, sprinting across the line in 39:27. Ethiopian Aga Ruti was second in 39:28 and Jane Kibii of Kenya was third in 39:29.

"It was very tough, and I never knew I was going to win it," Limo said. "Towards the end I had to struggle through it for that position."

Rutto and Limo each earned $7,000 for their wins, part of a purse of nearly $100,000 in all divisions of the race. Along with the prize money, both earned the right to compete for the PRRO Circuit Bonus of $10,000 at the Utica Boilermaker on July 12th. Luke Puskedra and Blake Russell each took home Bloomsday's top U.S. citizen prize of $5,000, plus open prize money. Kevin Castille of Lafayette, La., and Victoria Russell of Spokane each earned the top masters prize of $1,500.

In the men's wheelchair race, 2014 Bloomsday champion Josh George of Champaign, Ill., broke from a pack of four as he charged up the first uphill at 1 1/2 miles, and went on to win in 26:45 victory, the best wheelchair time on the course in years.

In the women's race newly crowned world marathon champion Tatyana McFadden won in 30:42 and last year's Bloomsday champion, Susannah Scaroni, who grew up in nearly Tekoa, Wash., was second in 30:51. Both women broke Jean Driscoll's 20-year-old course record of 31:24.