Half Marathon Winner Surprises Even Himself

Jose-Marcos Rosendo moved to recession-plagued Southern California a year ago so money wouldn’t be so tight. An native of Brazil, Rosendo on Sunday had to chuckle about the latest irony to present itself.

Rosendo, an unknown 24-year-old now residing in La Mesa, entered the America’s Finest City Half Marathon just to learn what kind of condition he was in. He shook his head after finishing in 1 hour 8 minutes 36 seconds--good for first place.

“I was only looking to see what kind of shape I am in,” he said in broken English. “And I win?”

Straighten that question mark into an exclamation point because Rosendo--who specializes in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters--won with relative ease, blowing away from a lead pack of seven runners just past the six-mile marker and going it alone from there. His time was 24 seconds better than that of second-place Bill Donakowski.

The six left behind watched as the novice road runner started to burn his reserves. They decided not to respond.

Rosendo, after all, was running in only his second road race, and his first half marathon. His previous road experience came only two weeks earlier in the MADD 10K, where he finished second.

This time, not only was Rosendo dealing with a longer distance, but also with a steep, mile incline at the end of the course.

“I really thought he’d fall back,” Donakowski said. “I’ve never run this race before, but everyone I talked to told me that everybody collapses over the last couple miles because of the hill. But when we got there, he just had too much of a lead.”

While he won the race, Rosendo did not outrun the economy. For the first time in seven years, no prize money was offered. The race’s title sponsor pulled out four months ago.

The lack of a purse almost swayed the women’s winner, Laura LaMena-Coll to stay home.

“I didn’t know there wasn’t going to be any prize money until after I bought my plane tickets,” said LaMena-Coll, who lives in Phoenix. “But I decided to come anyway because all my friends from Phoenix were coming.”

LaMena-Coll finished in 1:16:23, well ahead of second-place Marie Murphy-Rollins (1:19:37).

Like Rosendo, LaMena-Coll ran for the workout. She hadn’t competed since the Olympic trials in June where she finished 14th in the 10,000 meters on a hamstring she tore 10 minutes into her warm-ups.

“The trials were so disappointing,” LaMena-Coll said. “I was devastated. I was crying during the race.”

Although she has recovered from the injury, LaMena-Coll--who holds a master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State--wonders how long she can last in a sport that offers fewer and fewer rewards.

“Races have been dropping prize money for the last few years,” she said. “And I can understand why. Companies that used to sponsor events are hurting in general and they don’t want to have to lay off their employees. So they cut back on sponsorships and charities. . . . Hopefully the economy can bounce back, or I’ll have to get a real job.”

Race Notes

Race director Neil Finn said the temperature was 73 degrees with 87% humidity at 7 a.m., starting time of the race, and approximately 350 competitors required medical assistance within 2 1/2 hours, mostly for heat exhaustion. One female was treated for a 105-degree temperature. “To my knowledge, there were no casualties . . . nothing serious, but the medical area was very busy today.” Some 3,860 runners finished the race; 4,305 had entered. The number of starters Sunday is unknown.