Houston Chronicle

Half marathon records safe for another year

By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 18, 2009

The loneliness of long-distance running got to Deriba Merga (pictured above) Sunday morning in his determined bid to make a bigger name for both himself and the Houston Chevron Marathon.

Running solo for the final nine miles, the bantamweight Merga had nobody to pace him or, perhaps worse, serve as a windbreak. His sizzling tempo inexorably slowed the closer he to downtown he came and he wound up having to “settle” for a winning time of 2:07:52.

Thousands of runners make their way down
White Oak Dr. in the Heights during the races.
(Johnny Hanson Chronicle)

That’s the fastest anybody has ever finished a marathon in Texas and it obliterated Richard Kaitany’s 20-year Houston course record, beating it by more than two minutes. Merga, a 28-year-old Olympian from Ethiopia also left the runner-up, Benson Cheruiyot of Kenya, nearly four minutes to the rear as he averaged 4:53 per mile to secure a $45,000 payday.

Nonetheless, Merga was melancholy afterwards.

“I am pleased to have the record,” he said. “But I wanted more.” Read more at Houston Chronicle.