UTICA, N.Y. — Ethiopia’s Tilahun Regassa added his name to the list of Boilermaker champions with a dominating run through the streets of Utica to win Sunday’s annual 15-kilometer road race.
Regassa broke away from the pack early and won by 32 seconds at the front of a field with 11,360 finishers. Kenya’s Peter Cheruiyot Kirui, Shadrack Kosgei and Daniel Salel were separated by a few seconds behind Regassa’s time of 43:01.
Mamitu Daska gave Ethiopia a sweep of top Boilermaker honors with her first-place finish in the women’s division. Daska ran 22nd overall in 49:26, 18 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Risper Gesabwa.
Regassa and Daska are the third men’s and women’s champions from Ethiopia. Tarafe Maregu and Ashu Rabo Kasim swept in 2008; Lelisa Desisa won the men’s race in 2010 and Gete Wami was the 2006 women’s champion