Houston  Marathon

Two of the fastest races in the United States are the Houston Marathon and Half Marathon that were held on the same day. Emily Sisson broke her own American record by clocking 1:06:52 and is considered the first  American woman to break the 1:07 barrier. She placed second to be behind champion Hiwot Gebremaryam of Ethiopia who won in 1:06:28. Sisson also broke the American record in the marathon. Then in October, shattered her time by running 2:18:29 in the Chicago Marathon, to lower the previous mark by 43 seconds set by Keira D’ Amato at the 2022 Houston Marathon.

Photo Finish

In the men’s half marathon, Ethiopia’s Luel Gebresilase Aneme sprinted to the finish in 1:00:34 to nip  Kenya’s Wesley Kiptoo in less than a second. It was the closest  finish since 1996. It was almost the same story in the full marathon, as Kenyan Dominic Ondoro edged Ethiopia’s Tsedat Ayana to win in 2:10:36. Ayana clocked 2:10:37, losing by a hairline. Ondoro became a two-time Houston Marathon champion, six months after ruling the 2022 Grandma’s Marathon. Teshome Mekonen, formerly of Ethiopia and who now runs for the United States, placed third in 2:11:05 while two more Americans, Parker Stinson and Tyler Penn placed fourth and fifth in 2:12:11 and 2:12:16, respectively. Japanese Kenta Uchida came in sixth in 2:14:13 with Kenyan  James Ngandu placing seventh in 2:14:28 Alvaro Averu of the Dominican Republic settled for eighth place in 2:14:39.  Two more Americans completed the top ten, Kevin Salvado wound up ninth in 2:16:39 and Tyler Pence tenth in 2:16:44.

Women’s Marathon

Japanese Hitomo Niiya snapped the Africans domination, winning in 2:19:29. She almost broke the Japanese record of 2:19:12, but fell short by 12 seconds. Ethiopia’s  Muliye Dekeb Haylemariyam was second in 2:25:35 while another Ethiopian Sentayehu Lewetegn came in third in 2:26:33. Tristin Van Ord (USA) finished fourth in 2:27:07 while Kinset Middleton (USA) was fifth in 2:29:22.  Maegan Krifchin (USA) who ran three marathons in one month last year registered 2:30:16 to place sixth. The rest of the top ten are: 7th Adrea  Pomarinski (USA) (2:31:06), 8th Beverly Ramos (Puerto Rico) (2:33:31), 9th Molly Bookmyer(USA 2:33:31), and 10th Kathy Vandehy (USA) 2:32:31.

Steph Curry’s 45 feet basket

Golden State Warrior’s Steph Curry is undoubtedly the greatest shooter in NBA history. Steph owns the most 3-pointers in the league’s history and is now tied for most half-court makes. He made the “insane” trey against the Boston Celtics the other night , firing from 45 feet (beyond the Boston logo) to tie Jamal Crawford for most half-court treys with eight.