Van Dyk Breaks 5-Year Streak

Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa ended the longest winning streak in Los Angeles Marathon history Sunday when he held off five-time defending champion Saul Mendoza of Mexico to win the men’s wheelchair division.

Van Dyk, 28, finished in 1 hour 28 minutes 44 seconds. Mendoza, 35, finished second, also in 1:28:44. Kaige Schabort of South Africa, 38, was third in 1:28:45.

The result was not entirely unexpected.

Mendoza, who lives and trains in Texas, is outstanding at climbing hills. But this year’s course was changed to a flatter layout that favored Van Dyk, who last year finished second behind Mendoza in Los Angeles and won at Boston. Van Dyk proved as fast off the course as he was on it, skipping the post-race news conference to catch a flight.

“It was a very tactical race,” Mendoza said. “At mile 10, I attacked up the hill and put a small gap between myself and the pack. But there was a big downhill and they caught up after that.”

Defending champion Ariadne Hernandez of Mexico won the women’s race in 1:55:01.

Van Dyk and Hernandez each won $2,000.

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The start of the wheelchair race, scheduled to begin at 8:20 a.m., was delayed about 40 minutes as the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad investigated a suspicious-looking package near Figueroa Street and Pico Boulevard, Police Chief Bernard Parks said.

“The package was sitting on a sidewalk and was identified by some of our officers,” Parks said.

“It was a box that was taped. There was not any type of device in it. But it was in a very suspicious place and warranted our attention.”

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William Burke, president of Los Angeles Marathon Inc., said a record 22,107 runners were at the start line for the marathon.

The previous record was 21,035 set last year. Burke said he was pleased by the spectator turnout along the reconfigured route.

“I lived in abject fear that because it was an 80% new course, people would not come out,” Burke said. “But the streets were lined with people. We are eternally grateful.”

Burke said 17,800 participated in the bicycle tour.

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Stephen Ndungu became the first runner to win consecutive men’s titles in the L.A. Marathon when he ran a career-best 2 hours 10 minutes 27 seconds, but he realizes he has a long way to go before he is regarded as one of the best marathoners in Kenya.

“We have so many runners who are better in the marathon than us,” Ndungu said at a post-race news conference with countrymen Raymond Kipkoech Chemwelo and Benson Mbithi. “Many runners with better times by far. But we do wish to be part of them.”

To illustrate Ndungu’s point, consider that William Tanui holds the Kenyan record in the marathon at 2:06:16, and 14 Kenyans have broken 2:08.

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When Ndungu, Kipkoech Chemwelo, Mbithi, Noah Bor and James Kuria Karanja took the top five places in Sunday’s race, it marked the second time in three years that Kenyans swept the top five spots.

Kenyans took the top four places last year.

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With career bests of 13:33.84 in the 5,000 meters and 28:14.38 in the 10,000, Julio Valle of Mexico was regarded as a runner to watch in his marathon debut Sunday.

He was never among the leaders, however, and finished 15th in 2:29:36.

Valle ran the first half of the race in 1:06:58, but the second half took him 1:22.38.

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Although Ndungu is the first man to win consecutive titles at the L.A. Marathon, there has been a male winner to win more than once.

Canada’s Art Boileau won in 1987 and again two years later.

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Times staff writers Gary Klein and John Ortega, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.