Cherono Stays on Course This Time

Benson Cherono came into Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon with one victory on his resume, a result tarnished somewhat by the fact that he won despite having taken a wrong turn, cutting the course short by 800 meters.

“It was not my intention to take a shortcut,” he said of October’s Beijing Marathon, in which his margin of victory was so large that he was declared the winner anyway.

On a cool, crisp Sunday morning in Los Angeles, the Kenyan runner not only maintained his sense of direction but a blistering pace that none of his rivals could match, breaking away late and completing the 26.2-mile course in a record time of 2 hours 8 minutes 40 seconds.

Simon Bor, also from Kenya, had held the previous record of 2:09:25, set in 1999.

Cherono’s victory, by an impressive 1:28 over his nearest competitor, was worth $35,000 and a car with an estimated value of $40,000. And by finishing in less than 2:09:00 he earned an additional $25,000.

Moreover, the 21-year-old from the village of Eldoret removed whatever doubt there might have been that he is an elite runner with a future as bright as the sunlight that glinted off the downtown skyscrapers as 25,256 runners began their arduous journey.

“Today this was his race,” said countryman Laban Kipkemboi, the second-place finisher with a time of 2:10:08.

Kipkemboi was one of four Kenyans in the top four and one of three who watched helplessly as Cherono began to pull away during the 21st mile. Cherono said afterward that his late charge was fueled in part by the prospect of winning an additional $100,000, the “challenge” prize earmarked for the first man or woman across the finish line.

That would go to Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva, who won the women’s race in 2:25:10 and was awarded the challenge purse thanks to a start differential advantage of 16:46, a time calculated for the sake of fairness.

Also prominently in Cherono’s mind, naturally, was staying on course. Late in the race at Beijing, he mistakenly followed a television van instead of a pace car and took a wrong turn, cutting the course short. But because he had opened a lead of more than half a mile, he was declared the winner.

“It was not really my fault,” he said of that conclusion. “But yes, today I was just trying not to repeat the same mistake.”

For a while Cherono appeared poised to overtake Grigoryeva and came within sight of her down the stretch, only to fall 16 seconds short.

Still, the biggest payday of his young career -- which includes a third-place finish in the Boston Marathon -- will be hugely appreciated by what he calls “a very poor family” that includes five brothers and two sisters.

“This will be a boost to myself and my family,” he said through a wide grin. “God blessed me with this talent and they have to rely on me for assistance. I have to think about them, so for me it’s a very happy day.”