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October 15, 2011

Stephen Muange is Baltimore Marathon winner; Shurkhno repeats for women

Olena Shurkhno at the 2010 Baltimore Marathon. Shurkhno repeated her win for the 2011 event.

Kenyan Stephen Muange has barely pulled ahead of two competitors to win the 2011 Baltimore Marathon.

Muange battled fellow elites Ambesse Tolosa and Tesfaye Assefaudube until the very end of the race, with all three competitors finishing within seconds of each other -- a relatively unusual situation in a race that spans more than two hours.

Muange managed to stay ahead, with a chip-recorded time of 2:15:16, while Tolosa and Assefaudube had chip times of 2:15:20 and 2:15:22, respectively.

Speed appears to run in the winner's family: Muange is a nephew of 1983 Chicago Marathon champion Joseph Nzal. Muange has generally competed in 21Ks -- half-marathon-distance races. This was his first victory in a major marathon. He is 30 years old.

Julius Keter, the favored, 22-year-old, Kenyan runner who set the course record of 2:11:52 in 2008, was a presence early in the race. Keter dropped back near mile 23, according to tweets from a truck near the lead pack.

In the women's race, 2010 winner Olena Shurkhno has repeated her victory. Shurkhno is 34 years old.

-- Sun file photo by Kenneth K. Lam

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About Exercists
Andrea Siegel, a reporter at The Baltimore Sun, covers mostly crime and courts in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, as well as legal issues. She wishes she was more physically fit, and, as she's more fond of chocolate than exercise, fitness is a challenge. Her partner on a one-mile-plus daily walk is the family dog, a mixed breed named Moxie, and she exercises at the gym where the D.C. snipers once worked out.
Jerry Jackson has been a photo editor at The Baltimore Sun for 14 years and an avid cyclist for more than 30 years. Inspired by the movie "Breaking Away," he started racing as a teenager in Mississippi when leather "brain baskets" were still the norm. He regularly commutes to work by bike and still enters several mountain bike races a year for fun.
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Patrick Maynard, who will be writing about running and walking, has been a producer for baltimoresun.com since 2008. In 2009, he tweeted on-course for the Sun from the Baltimore Marathon, finishing in just under 4 hours and almost managing to run the whole time. He sometimes walks to the Sun offices on Calvert Street.
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Leeann Adams, a multimedia editor at The Baltimore Sun, also dabbles in content for the mobile website and iPhone app and covers the Ravens via video. She did a triathlon to celebrate her 40th birthday and continues to swim, bike and run -- none of them quickly, though. Her biggest fitness challenge is to balance working, working out, spending time with her husband and being a mom to a 6-year-old boy.
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Anica Butler, the Sun's crime editor, is a former high school runner and recovering vegetarian who spent more of her early-adult years on a bar stool than working out. She is currently training (though poorly) for a half marathon and is trying to live a generally healthier lifestyle. She also hates the gym.
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