'Tough' News marathon conquered by Kenya's Yego

At different points on the marathon course, David Yego could feel it. He felt it in his quads, in his hamstrings and pretty much everywhere else in his legs. The wear and tear on the Kenyan's body was just brutal.

"The course was very tough," Yego said. "Too tough."

But in the end, Yego proved he was up to the task of conquering that course. The Kenyan took his first lead 19 miles into the race and then pulled away from his fellow runners in dominating fashion to emerge victorious in the 2009 edition of the Deseret News Marathon.

Yego finished the race at Liberty Park in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 42.5 seconds. His winning time was 5 minutes and 16 seconds better than the time posted by second-place finisher Nick McCombs.

For the first 18 miles, Yego was one of several runners who trailed leader Kurt Michels. But he caught Michels on mile 19 and passed him. The Bozeman, Mont., resident was powerless to stop his Kenyan competitor from taking over the race.

"I hit the wall big time at mile 19 and I just started running slow," said Michels, an ex-University of Utah runner.

Michels ultimately fell back a little bit and crossed the line in fourth overall with a time of 2:41:32.5. It turned out to be an impressive showing overall, considering this marathon was the first one he had run.

His wife had run in both the Salt Lake and Boston marathons before him and influenced Michels to finally pick up the sport this year. He picked the Deseret News Marathon to make his debut because the timing of the event was ideal for him.

Getting such a positive result his first time out offers a solid foundation for Michels to build on as he prepares to compete in the Boston Marathon next year.

"I feel good about (my finish) and it's a decent time," Michels said. "I know that I'm faster, but this is a good starting point and I learned a lot."

Being a first-timer on the course, the early downhill plunges caught up to Michels as the race wore on. He admitted feeling unfamiliar with where the aid stations were at different points on the course and he wasn't able to use them as effectively as he had hoped.

"My legs — they could have kept going," Michels said. "It was just I didn't have the fuel in there."

McCombs also took a stab at the Deseret News Marathon for the first time. The ex-BYU runner had seasoning and high finishes in prior races — including, most recently, a runner-up finish at the Ogden Marathon.