Ethiopia's Mamitu Daska has mastered Bolder Boulder course - Boulder Daily Camera

Mamitu Daska has participated in the Bolder Boulder enough to know exactly what she's doing on the course.

On Monday, the 25-year-old Ethiopian looked quite comfortable in cruising past the rest of the field to win the women's professional race for the third time in four years.

"This is how I'm doing it -- it's my strategy to win," Daska said through a translator.

Daska also won in 2009 and 2010, while finishing second a year ago. She helped Ethiopia win the International Team Challenge for the fourth straight year.

Daska said this is a race she wants to win, and it showed. She pulled way out in front from the start and never looked back -- literally. She finished in 33 minutes, 6.5 seconds, the slowest winning time since 2007.

"It was a very fast, aggressive pace from the very start and I knew she would be a force to be reckoned with, with her performances on the road recently," said American Deena Kastor, who was third. "I didn't have any delusion that she would be coming back to us in the race."

The top two United States finishers were second and third and placed second in the team challenge. Janet Cherobon-Bawcom was second, in 33:23.57.

"I'm very excited," said Cherobon-Bawcom, who had been training at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz. "It's altitude and you don't know how your body is going to react."

Kastor was in second for much of the race, but wound up just behind her teammate, in 33:28.48.

"I was pleased with it because it was all I had," she said. "All of us runners come into races like this wanting to win, but I'm really happy with the effort I put out. I just couldn't close that gap (on Daska) and couldn't keep up with Janet when she passed me (at the 5-mile mark), but we were able to pull off a good team finish."

Magdalena Lewy-Boulet was 20th to round out Team USA.

"Ethiopia ran strong, but I'm really proud of the USA girls for pulling off such a strong race today," Kastor said.

While Lewy-Boulet would have loved a better individual finish, Team USA was still happy with its effort.

"As a team, you couldn't ask for any better team than the one we had today," Cherobon-Bawcom said.

For Team Colorado, Adrianna Nelson had a strong race, placing ninth. Wendy Thomas was 21st. Sara Slattery, who won in 2006, did not finish because of an injury. She had hamstring issue entering the competition.

Daska's teammates both finished in the top six. Ashu Kasim was fifth and Alemitu Abera was sixth. From the start, however, this was Daska's race, leaving the rest of the field to fight for second.

"I don't think you ever succumb to it," Kastor said. "You just continue pushing the whole way in trying to get better out of yourself. Until I got to the finish line, I was fighting every step of the way."

So was Cherobon-Bawcom, but she knew Daska wouldn't be caught.

"It was just too far," she said.

On May 20, Daska won the Bay-to-Breakers 12K in San Francisco. She is hoping to be a part of the Summer Olympics in London this summer.

"I don't know yet if I'm running in London, but I'm ready for that," she said. "I'm practicing."

The end of a Hero , Haile failed to qualify for London 2012

DASHED: Legendary Ethiopian fails to qualify for Olympics

Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie (right) competes in the 10,000m race at the Fanny Blankers Koen Games in Hengelo on Sunday. AFP pic

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HENGELO (NETHERLANDS): ETHIOPIAN track legend Haile  Gebrselassie failed to qualify for the London Olympics on Sunday as he could only finish seventh in the 10,000 metres. 

The 39-year-old two-time Olympic 10,000m champion -- who had already failed  to post a qualifying time for the marathon -- admitted his hopes had been dashed  after his disappointing performance against 12 of his compatriots.

   Ethiopia was using this as a qualifier for the Olympics.

   "The Games in London, is over for me," he said.

   "I ran a good race till the last lap. I felt good but I manifestly didn't  have the speed to compete against my rivals.

   "That's life. I am not disappointed," added Gebrselassie, whose epic defeat of Kenyan great Paul Tergat at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, his second Olympic  title, is one of the great finishes of all time.

   Indeed for the ever cheerful Ethiopian great it is to be his last track  race.

   "The 'spikes', it is finished for me. I am 39. I have failed to qualify for the Olympics. And there is a very strong younger generation in Ethiopia now.

   "I tried to qualify for my fifth Olympics. And I don't regret trying to do so. I simply came up against stronger rivals on Sunday."

   Tariku Bekele and Leleisa Desisa Benti finished first and second  respectively -- with the former posting the best time in the world this year of  27:11.70s -- to book their tickets for London.

   The third spot is being kept for Bekele's elder brother and world record  holder Kenenisa, who has been struggling for several months with a calf muscle  problem.

   Gebrselassie said that he felt he was handing over the baton of Ethiopian track running to a golden generation.

   "I am leaving the track in a calm frame of mind because there is a super  generation taking over," he said.

   "I haven't in any case run on the track since the Beijing Games (2008). Ethiopia will be stronger in London.

   "I gave all that I had. It is why I am not sad or disappointed. I am always  happy to run. These next months, I will devote solely to marathons and half  marathons.

   "In three years, I envisage a political career. I would like to become a  member of parliament."

   Gebrselassie, a four-time world 10,000m champion, had come into the race  boosted by his victory in the 10km Great Manchester Run in northwest England  last week in 27:39s.

   l GOTZIS (Austria): Former world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis gave her hopes of winning Olympic gold in London a timely boost  on Sunday by winning a combined events meeting in a British record  points tally.

   The 26-year-old recorded a new personal best of 6,906 points to replace in the record books Britain's 2000 Olympic champion Denise Lewis whose previous  best was at 6,831.

   Russia's Tatyana Chernova, who took Jessica's world title in Daegu last year, was 132 points behind in second, with Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska a distant ninth almost 600 points adrift. AFP

Read more: ATHLETICS: That's it for Gaby - Other - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/other/athletics-that-s-it-for-gaby-1.88800#ixzz1wEprWnFF

Daska finally notches elusive Bay to Breakers win | Mike Aldax | Bay-to-Breakers | San Francisco Examiner

By: Mike Aldax | 05/20/12 9:18 PM
SF Examiner Staff Writer | Follow On Twitter @SFExMikeAldax

JOSEPH SCHELL/SPECIAL TO THE S.F. EXAMINER

Leader of the pack: Mamitu Daska of Ethiopia earned a $25,000 bonus for being the first person to cross the finish line.

Mamitu Daska has said that she would keep returning to compete in the Zazzle Bay to Breakers until she’s won it.

After doing just that in dominant fashion on Sunday, event organizers might need to find another reason for the Ethiopian phenom to return to compete again next year.  

The soft-spoken 28-year-old separated herself from the pack after the first mile and never looked back in the 101st running of the 12-kilometer footrace, which ran under blue skies Sunday. The race starts at Howard and Beale streets, snakes through Golden Gate Park and ends on the Great Highway.

Daska not only won the women’s field in 39 minutes, 2 seconds, but was also the first runner to cross the finish line. She built such an early lead that she was able to hold off men’s winner Sammy Kitwara (34:41). The elite men’s field started the race about four minutes behind the elite women.

Being the first person, man or woman, to cross the finish line earned Daska the grand prize of $25,000. She netted an additional $7,000 for topping the women’s field, and another $5,000 for climbing Hayes Street Hill first.

Diane Nukuri Johnson, 27, the Burundi Olympian marathoner who ran at the University of Iowa, placed second for the women in 40:02. Jelliah Tinega of Kenya was third in 40:33.

Daska showed how experience can help at Bay to Breakers, which with its hills and sharp turns makes the colorful and storied race challenging, said Josh Muxen, the race’s elite athlete coordinator. She placed second in Bay to Breakers last year and third in 2010. Earlier this year, she won the 12K Lilac Bloomsday event.

After racing out to an early lead, Daska appeared to suffer a cramp more than halfway through the race. But she fought through it, keeping hold of a comfortable lead until the final meters, when Kitwara made his move. After crossing the finish line alone, she fell to the pavement and kissed the ground. Even then, it would take several minutes before Daska would smile.

“I am happy,” the Ethiopian eventually admitted.

The world record for the women is 38:07, set by Lineth Chepkurui of Kenya in 2010. Chepkurui did not compete in Bay to Breakers this year.

maldax@sfexaminer.com

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/bay-breakers/2012/05/daska-finally-notches-elusive-bay-breakers-win#ixzz1vaKYLBC9