Slow, sweet victory

Abebe Yimer knows he possesses elite-level marathon speed.

But what he also knows, from his years of experience at the 26.2-mile distance, is that it's not always about how fast you finish.

A slow victory beats a fast second-place finish any day.

That was the case on a perfect Sunday morning in the Las Vegas Marathon.

Yimer turned a two-man race into a one-man victory stroll over the last two miles, reaching the finish line at Mandalay Bay in 2 hours, 27 minutes, 27 seconds.

It was a long way off Yimer's personal best of 2:13:52 in Austin, Texas, two years ago. But he took second in that race.

"I'm so happy to win in this race. It doesn't matter what the time was," said Yimer, a 28-year-old Ethiopian who has called Las Vegas home for the past seven years. "It only matters to win. I was trying to shoot for a good time, but it was too cold for me. So I just thought, time doesn't matter, I'm trying to win the race."

Yimer said he tends to like it a little warmer, but conditions were actually ideal for the approximately 15,000 participants in the marathon and half-marathon. It was a crisp 48 degrees at race time, with no wind at all, and overcast skies kept runners cool throughout the morning.

At 6:07 a.m., a sea of runners washed over the south end of the Strip as the race started at Mandalay Bay under a fireworks display. But three miles later, it was already down to a two-man race, between Yimer and Kenya's Geoffrey Kiprotich.

Yimer never trailed, as Kiprotich spent much of the race inches off the Las Vegan's right shoulder, occasionally tucking in behind Yimer. By Mile 5, approaching the Fremont Street Experience, the two had built a quarter-mile lead. And by the halfway point along Smoke Ranch Road, there wasn't another runner in sight.

The two remained no more than a stride or two apart through the 24-mile mark before Yimer began plotting for victory.

"With two miles to go, I knew I was stronger. I could look at him and see the guy was very tired," said Yimer, who made his move with 11/2 miles remaining. "I'm thinking, I have to win this race. This is my chance."

His assessment of Kiprotich was spot-on, as the Kenyan said he was suffering stomach cramps over the last five miles.

"When he made his move, I thought to myself, let him go," said Kiprotich, a 30-year-old now living in Minneapolis. "Because if I'd kept pushing like that, I might have had to stop running."

Yimer quickly built the lead up to 100 yards at the 25-mile mark heading down Frank Sinatra Drive, and at 26 miles, with a relative handful of strides to go, he knew he'd sealed the deal.

"I was very excited. I was thinking, I've got this race," said Yimer, who took eighth last year in 2:24:20. "Last year, I ran faster, but that's OK, because this year, I won."

Kiprotich, who won the Des Moines Marathon earlier this year, was 32 seconds behind in second at 2:27:59, well off his personal best of 2:18:27.

"I was hoping to run 2:17. I was off by 10 minutes," he said, clearly exasperated. "I told my manager that I was going to win, so it's somewhat disappointing. My hope was not to be second. But he's a very good runner."

It was Yimer's second Las Vegas victory, as he also took the 2002 title on the event's old course.

Russia's Nadezhda Tuptova claimed the women's title with a time of 2:48:20, without the benefit of even one runner to push her.

"I started by myself, and I finished by myself," Tuptova said through an interpreter, admitting she wasn't fully certain of her status until she broke the tape. "I didn't realize I was winning until the finish line, even though I didn't see any other women around.

"I just thought, finally, the finish line."

Tuptova, who earned $8,000, was eight minutes ahead of her nearest pursuer, Las Vegan Ramona Sanchez, who clocked 2:56:33.

Yimer claimed the $8,000 first-place men's prize, and added $3,000 as the top Clark County male finisher. Kiprotich earned $4,000.

Contact Patrick Everson at peverson @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0353.