Ethiopias Erkesso, Merga win Houston Marathon 2009 – HULIQ

Ethiopia showed yet again that it is the athletic powerhouse by taking both the men’s and women’s course records and becoming the winner at the 37th edition of the Chevron Houston Marathon.

25-year-old Teyba Erkesso, a debutant in Marathon racing set a course record time of 2:24:18 at the Houston Marathon 2009. She beat the time set by her fellow country mate, Dire Tune at the Boston Marathon champion. Dire Tune is the current Boston Marathon champion. The Houston Marathon 2009 Winner had previously run a world record best of 51:44 at the 2007 Cherry Blossom Ten Miler.

The men’s champion Deriba Merga run set a new record at the Houston Marathon with his 2:07:52.This surpassed the previous record, which had stayed for over two decades by two minutes. The 28-year-old Merga was rather not very excited about his win. He had earlier set his sights at 2:05. Deriba also finished fourth at the 2008 Olympic Marathon in Beijing.

Had he ran the fasted marathon ever in the United States, he would have bagged an additional $10000 and a new Stetson. However, he had to settle for the $45000 price money. The Huston women champion Erkesso, also took home a similar amount.

The Ethiopians posted the best times ever in any Texas Marathon. Meb Keflezighi took the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Keflezighi, a former Olympic silver medallist in the full marathon took the men’s category by running 1:01:25.The Aramco Houstion Marathon 2009 women championship went to Magdalena Boulet. She posted 1:11:47 to win the championship.

All together, almost 25,000 runners took part in this event, which was a record turnout.

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