■ATHLETICS
Kenyans win in Taroko
Kenyan runners dominated the 2009 Taroko International Marathon yesterday in Hualien County, winning both the men’s and women’s categories. James Meli of Kenya finished first in the men’s marathon in a time of 2 hours, 24 minutes and 20 seconds, while his compatriot Esther Mutuka ran the 42km course in 2:53:24, well ahead of the other women in the race. The Taroko Marathon, now in its 10th year, attracted around 10,000 professional runners and aficionados, including 289 foreign participants from 26 countries. To guarantee road safety, the organizers limit the number of competitors to 10,000 every year.
■HORSE RACING
Man of Iron wins by a nose
Irish-based Man of Iron wore down nine-year-old gelding Cloudy’s Knight in the stretch to capture the US$500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon by a nose at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, on Friday. Ridden by Johnny Murtagh and trained by Aidan O’Brien, the Kentucky-bred chestnut won for the fourth time in 10 career starts, the first outside Ireland. In other Breeders’ Cup races, She Be Wild easily took the US$2 million Juvenile Fillies with Julien Leparoux up, while Tapitsfly, with Robby Albarado in the irons, won the US$1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf by a half a length over Rose Catherine.
■FOOTBALL
NFL fines Packers trio
Green Bay Packers Johnny Jolly, Al Harris and rookie B.J. Raji were fined US$5,000 each by the NFL on Friday for actions in last weekend’s loss to Minnesota. Defensive tackle Jolly was fined for unnecessary roughness for head-butting Minnesota running back Chester Taylor. Cornerback Harris was fined for unnecessary roughness for grabbing a helmet-opening to make a tackle and defensive tackle Raji was fined for a facemask violation. The biggest fine of the week went to Cleveland linebacker Kamerion Wimbley, US$7,500 for roughing the passer when he struck Chicago’s Jay Cutler in the face.
■ICE HOCKEY
US down Canada
Meghan Duggan scored the winner in the second period and the US hung on to beat Canada 3-2 in their final group game of the Four Nations Cup in Vierumaki, Finland, on Friday. Both teams had already advanced to today’s final, with Friday’s game merely deciding the winner of the group. Duggan had not scored in the previous two wins over Finland and Sweden, but netted the decisive goal with 14 seconds to go in the second period after an assist from Kelli Stack. In Friday’s other game, Sweden beat Finland 2-1 in Helsinki with an overtime goal by Pernilla Winberg. The teams were to play for third place yesterday.
■SWIMMING
Records set in Moscow
Marieke Guehrer and Evelyn Verraszto were the stars on a record-breaking opening day of the Moscow leg of FINA’s World Cup series on Friday. Australia’s Guehrer claimed two gold medals as she set a new world record of 26.17 seconds in the women’s 50m backstroke in the short course competition. The 23-year-old broke the previous mark of 26.23 seconds, set by Croatia’s Sanja Jovanovic at Rijeka, Croatia, on Dec. 13. Hungary’s Verraszto proved to be the revelation on the first of the two-day competition as she set a new record in the 200m individual medley. The 20-year-old clocked 2:06.01 seconds to better the 2:06.13 achieved by Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry in Manchester, England, on April 12 last year.
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