The large lead pack of both marathoners and half-marathoners hardly notice the waterfront scenery.
TORONTO (9/24/06) - Kenyan Daniel Rono ran his marathon winning streak to three, defeating a quality field in challenging, windy conditions at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

Rono's 2:10:15 took a 1:42 off Simon Bor's previous course record 2:11:57, set last year. It was only 20 seconds off the Canadian all- comers mark (2:09:55) and was the third-fastest marathon ever on Canadian soil.

Rono, who entered the race with a 2:12:02 PR, won his marathon debut in April 2005 in Madrid, coming within 10 seconds of a 14-year-old course record, then followed that up with January win in Mumbai, where he ran another 2:12 in tough, hot conditions.

After an excitable 2:49 first kilometer, a 20-plus athlete pack tucked in behind four pacemakers, who created a barrier to the wind between 3K and 12K, at times having to bend into it to maintain momentum. They passed 10K in 30:50, then halfway on target pace in 1:04:37.

At this point, there were still 15 in contention, including Rono, Bor, 2006 Commonwealth Games champion Samson Ramadhani of Tanzania, and Moroccan Abderrahime Bouramdane, winner of the Ottawa Marathon in May.

By 25K the group was down to six, with Kenyans Laban Moiben (who trains in Ann Arbor) and Festus Kioko joining the four above. Ramadhani and Bouramdane were pushing the pace to the point where a 2:09 looked likely.

By 33K the race was down to Rono and Bouramdane. Turning into the wind (gusting to30K per hour) just before 34K, they ran shoulder to shoulder, no quarter given. However the pace dropped to 3:12 per kilometer and chances of earning the $20,000 bonus for breaking 2:09:55 slipped away.

At 39K Rono surged and never let up. Bouramdane crossed less than a half minute back in a PR 2:10:41. Ann Arbor's Moiben took fifth in 2:16:46.

A new course record was also set in the women's race, as Poland's Malgorzata Sobanska (a former London Marathon winner) overhauled long-time leader Elizabeth Chemweno of Kenya in the last quarter to cross the line in 2:34:31.This eclipsed the 2:36:20 mark set by Russia's Lyubov Morgunova in 2003.

The indefatigable Ed Whitlock set another age-group world record with his 3:08:35 at age 75, taking 10 minutes off the previous mark set by American Warren Utes.

Michal Kapral brought the Guinness World Record for running a marathon while juggling three objects back to Canada, with his 2:57:53. "I managed to do it! I can't believe it! I love 'joggling,'" he said after crossing the line.

A lot of other folks also went home happy, as runners for 50 local charities raised a record $750,000 on the day. MR