New champ outruns training buddy

Jonathan Ndambuki's three-year reign as king of the Deseret Morning News/KJZZ TV Marathon ended Monday morning.

And it was his training partner who knocked him off his perch.

Simon Sawe of Kenya, Ndambuki's teammate, beat the three-time defending champ by more than three minutes en route to victory.

"I'm really excited," said Sawe, "because this is my first win, marathon-wise, in Salt Lake City."

Sawe finished the course, which begins at Big Mountain above Emigration Canyon and descends into Salt Lake City, with a winning time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds.

Ndambuki finished second, Sasha Pachev of Provo was third, Corbin Talley was fourth and Steven Ashbaker of Sandy rounded out the top 5.

Racing against his teammate gave added motivation to Sawe, though he quickly pointed out that it wasn't that big of a deal.

"When teammates go and race against each other, the guy who's maybe behind always is motivated to do better," said Sawe, who smiled and added: "Maybe he's going to kick me one of these days."

Sawe's killer move came around mile 18. After struggling to stay up with the elite group — which consisted of Jared Nyamboki, Ndambuki and Pachev — during the steep descent into the valley, Sawe rejoined them toward the end of the race. By mile 20, he had broken away from all of them.

"My struggle was to really ease into it," said Sawe. "So, at mile 18, I got up with the elite group. And then, from there on, I put the hammer down."

After peeling away from the other top runners, Sawe raced the remaining six miles hoping to avoid any kind of breakdown.

That's something that Nyamboki couldn't do. He led for most of the race but eventually faded after Sawe and Ndambuki passed him.

Throughout the morning, Sawe had a difficult time getting into a rhythm because of the steep descent. From start to finish, the Deseret Morning News/KJZZ Marathon drops 3,200 feet.

"This is a tough course," said Sawe, who used Monday's marathon as a preparation run for the upcoming Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 1. "People say, 'It's downhill.' But again, there's a lot of challenge running downhill. I'm tall. I'm 6-feet. And that pounding, man, it was killing me."