A new champion took the Manitoba Marathon crown Sunday morning, finishing almost nine minutes ahead of his closest competitor as last year's winner fell back to 4th place.
"I'm so excited…I'm so happy" said Philip Samoei shortly after crossing the finish line in first place. "It was tough for me. I wanted to run in front so that if someone caught up it would be ok, so I really pushed myself the whole race."
Samoei finished with a time of 2:35:45.6, followed by Adam Aleshka at 2:44:09.8. Last year's winner, Mike Booth, finished in 4th place with a time of 2:44:54.3.
"I didn't run for money, I ran for support of those with disabilities," said Samoei who is native to Kenya. "It's good to support them."
He wasn't the only runner hitting the pavement for a cause.
"I work with adults and children with physical and intellectual disabilities," said the top female, Gina Tessman. "So what better race to run than the Manitoba Marathon?"
Tessman finished with a time of 2:58:04.4, improving vastly on her 19th place finish last year.
"It's a long three hours," said the 25-year-old who just returned to Winnipeg after her honeymoon in Cuba. "Just making sure you don't start off too hard, I think that's everybody's goal. Just keeping the pace and then trying to pick it up the last mile, if that's possible. I'm pretty excited and I couldn't have done it without my team."
The Manitoba Marathon is a fundraiser for people with disabilities. Since the race began in 1979, runners have raised more than $4 million and helped kick start more than 300 projects across the province. As a result, hundreds of Manitobans have been moved from institutionalized care and welcomed back into their communities.
