Sunday, September 11, 2011

Chicago Half Goes to Atmani, Prichard

It was another gorgeous day on the south lakefront Sunday as the Chicago Half Marathon and 5K took place under sunny skies with a good dose of humidity in the air. As of this writing, there were 11,878 finishers in the half-marathon, down a bit from last year. I'll remember a lot from this race on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, including a great rendition of the national anthem by the wonderful harmony singers in the group "Spirit."
The overall leaders ran very well with Morocco native Abdelaziz Atmani, 30, of New Augusta, IN, taking the overall victory in 1:06:03. A familiar Chicago name, Greg Costello, 30, now of St. Louis, MO, was second in 1:07:53, and Christopher Reis, 30, of Cincinnati, OH, took third in 1:08:15. The top five was rounded out by Thomas Frazer, 30, of Indianapolis, IN, in 1:08:25, and local standout Chad Ware, 26, of Wheeling, in 1:09:02. Plenty of big names locally and regionally followed them. On the women's side, it was a battleShannon Ring of Beccas. Becca Prichard, 32, of Boulder, CO, won it in 1:19:07. She was closely followed by Becca Thompson, 30, of Houston, TX, in 1:19:19. Third went to steady local Jean Marinangeli, 26, of Schaumburg, in 1:20:03, while fourth went to Shannon Ring, 28, of Belvidere, in 1:21:40, and fifth went to Agelina Anliker, 31, of Chicago, in 1:22:16. My personal race was rewarding. I took it easy for six miles and then stepped it up a little and finished strong. I didn't set any records, but I sure felt good at the end. In the 5K, Greg Critchley, 24, of Calgary, AB, won in 16:29. Emma Keenan, 23, of Evanston, was female champ in 17:32. There were 1,681 finishers. This definitely was the day of the half-marathon with other 13.1-milers run near Naperville and in Crystal Lake.

2 comments:

Pete B said...

Congrats on a good race. It was a fun run, a little muggy and the sun was beating down pretty hard on the asphalt as it rose over Lake Michigan. Although it likely did not affect the elites too much. Apollo Ohno from Olympics fame also ran (this, his first 1/2 marathon). I heard his name announced as he finished, but did not get his time. He was on the podium and said he will be running the NYC Marathon as well. I have a picture of the winners at http://lakefronttrail.blogspot.com/if you want to use.

Bob Richards said...

Pete, nice race to you, too. I really enjoyed it out there today. Maybe I'll take you up on the photo! Good running.