Posted: November 25, 2007

Athletics: Letherby, Begley Win 71st Manchester Road Race

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Andrew Letherby of Australia and Amy Begley of Beaverton, Ore., won today's 71st running of the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, Conn. For the 34 year-old Letherby it was his second Manchester victory. He also won the 4.78 mile race in 2002, and remains the only Australian to race to victory at Manchester. His time today of 21:54 was nine seconds faster than his 2002 winning mark, but only one second up on Irishman Martin Fagan who took second. U.S. steeplechaser Brian Olinger of Westerville, Ohio, took third in 22:00, while defending champion, Ian Dobson of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., was fourth in 22:03. Begley, who ran as Amy Yoder at the University of Arkansas before marrying teammate Andrew Begley, crossed the finish line in 24:39 for her first Manchester victory, 13 seconds up on Irishwoman Mary Cullen. Canadian Megan Metcalfe was third in 24:54, followed by former Notre Dame star, Molly Huddle of Providence, R.I., in fourth (25:06). Kenyan Caroline Chepkorir, who shot to an eary lead nearly keeping up with the men's lead pack, faded to finish tenth in 26:25. In all, 9,478 runners finished the race including venerated running journalist Amby Burfoot. Burfoot, a nine-time Manchester winner, completed the race for the 45th time. His time of 30:41 placed the 61 year-old first in the 60-69 year age-group. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest