Kimutai Cheruiyot, 29, of Kenya won the MetroPCS Dallas Marathon in Dallas, Tex., Sun., Dec. 14, as Kenyans swept the top five places in the men’s race. 

Cheruiyot pulled away from his countryman James Kirwa, 30, over the final stages of the race on a breezy morning to win by exactly a minute as they ran 2:17:11 and 2:18:11 respectively.

Less than 30 seconds after Kirwa crossed the finish line, Stephen Muange, 33, and Jonathan Kibet, 30, sprinted the final 100 yards in a stirring battle for third place, Muange just edging Kibet as they both finished in 2:18:34.

Peter Chebet, 38, still another Kenyan, was fifth in 2:30:36, four seconds ahead of the first American finisher, John Thompson, 33, of Addison, Tex., who ended up sixth in 2:30:40.

Shitaye Gemechu, 34, of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:46:46.

Jessica Harper, 28, of Austin, Tex., finished second in 2:50:23, and Masters runner Lisa Galvan, 40, of Dallas, Tex., was third in 2:53:20. Galvan, who’s originally from New Zealand, won this race 10 years ago.

Kimutai Cheruiyot and Shitaye Gemechu each received $5,000 for winning their respective divisions.

The MetroPCS Dallas Marathon, formerly known as the Dallas White Rock Marathon, was cancelled last year due to bad weather. It was back strong this year, however, as there were 3,044 finishers in the race.

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