Photo: Saturday's Friendship Run by the Horseshoe Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO (10/23/05) -- The flat, fast course begins in beautiful Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York, crosses the Peace Bridge, loops around Old Fort Erie, then follows the Niagara Parkway to a dramatic finish at the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario. An International field of 4000 competed in the marathon, half-marathon, half-marathon walk and 5K.

Course record holder Nicole Stevenson, defended the title she won in 2004 with a 2:46:41. Stevenson, a Toronto resident, finished 10th overall and took home a check of $5,000. Michelle Schuler of Ottawa just nipped the 3 hour mark to take second in 2:59:59. Nadiya Sytarchuk, a Ukrainian living in the Toronto area won the masters title and finished 3rd among the women.

2004 Canadian marathon champion, Matthew McInnes of Toronto, had a significant gap on his nearest challenger to win in 2:21:46. McInnes was happy with the win, but missed his goal of meeting the 2:18 standard to qualify for the Commonwealth Games marathon. Louis- Philip Garnier, who was the first Master to finish. The Montreal resident finished in 2:32:02.

Danny Kassap, a Toronto resident originally from the Congo, easily won the Half Marathon in 1:05:35. Lyuov Denisova of Russia ran a fine 1:15:12 to win the half marathon. Denisova plans to return to the ING New York City Marathon in which she places 3rd in 2004.

Marathon

1 Matthew McInnes, 2:21:46

2 Louis-Philip Garnier, 2:32:02

3 Michel Lavoie, 2:32:27

4 Bob Weiner, 2:32:49

5 Mark Kiteley, 2:33:18

1 Nicole Stevenson, 2:46:41

2 Michelle Schuler, 2:59:59

3 Nadiya Sytarchuk, 3:01:55

4 Louise Voghel, 3:09:30

5 Kelly Rupoli, 3:12:12

Half Marathon

1 Danny Kassap, 1:05:35

2 Giitah Macharia, 1:06:34

3 Abel Ondeyo, 1:06:48

4 Joseph Nderitu, 1:07:40

5 Paulo Carmo, 1:07:59

1 Lyubov Denisova, 1:15:12

2 Megan Brown, 1:18:08

3 Debbi Kilpatrick-Morris, 1:20:40

4 Paula Wiltse, 1:21:07

5 Josiane Aboungono, 1:23:57

For complete results see http://www.sportstats.ca/res2005/oct2005.htm

Michigan Runner TV's coverage will be available October 30: http://michiganrunner.tv/ 2005niagara/