Sports
2011 LA Marathon: A Never-Ending Photo Gallery
The "Stadium to the Sea" course in its second year travels from Dodger Stadium to near the Santa Monica Pier.
The 26th annual LA Marathon got off to a soggy start on Sunday morning, as rain fell on the runners leaving Dodger Stadium. The final head count was 23,542 registered runners, the race's sixth-highest total.
At roughly 8 a.m., the men were pacing at 5:03 per mile, with Kenya's Nicolas Kamakya—whose 2:08:42 was the fourth-fastest time for a man entering the race—following closely behind. After the first mile, Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba, 23, was in the lead on the women's side.
South African Krige Schabort, who won last year's men's wheelchair race won again just before 9 a.m. His time was 1:33:11.
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Markos Geneti, 26, who was running his first marathon, crossed the 24th mile marker in Santa Monica around 9:40 a.m., running at a 4:57 mile pace. He won the LA Marathon in 2:06:35, breaking the LA Marathon record and getting the second-fastest debut ever in marathon history.
Just minutes later, Deba, 23, became the first Ethiopian woman to ever win the LA Marathon, winning with a time of 2:26:35.
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Geneti and Deba received their gold medals—and keys to new Honda cars—from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Tetsuo Iwamura, president of the American division of LA Marathon sponsor Honda; and LA Marathon owner Frank McCourt.
Geneti also received a $100,000 check for being the top elite runner among both genders. Iwamura thanked Americans who have contributed to  in Japan, where Honda is based.
