Van Dyk Wins Wheelchair Race

Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa expected a dash to the finish in the Los Angeles Marathon’s men’s wheelchair race on Sunday.

But he did not expect to do it alone.

Van Dyk led from wire to wire and finished more than seven minutes ahead of his closest competitor to win for the second time in five years. Van Dyk’s time of 1 hour 24 minutes 48 seconds smashed the course record of 1:27:07 set by Saul Mendoza in 2003.

Van Dyk said a flat tire slowed Mendoza on Sunday. Once Van Dyk got out in front, other competitors apparently decided to conserve energy for a late sprint for second place.

“I didn’t try to break away at the start, it just kind of happened

Van Dyk, 32, said he would return home for two weeks before entering marathons in Paris, Boston, London and South Korea.

Van Dyk has won the Boston race five years in a row. He also is the defending Paris champion.

Shirley Reilly of Tucson defeated three competitors to win the women’s wheelchair race Sunday in 1:55:23.

The 20-year-old Reilly earned $3,200 and finished 12th overall among 33 men’s and women’s racers.

“My strategy was to go out strong and see who’s in the pack, and if they can stay with me or if I can stay with them,” Reilly said.

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William Burke, president of the L.A. Marathon, said a record 25,256 runners registered for the race.

Burke, citing Lidiya Grigoryeva’s victory in the $100,000 Banco Popular Challenge, said that pitting women against men with a fair time differential has changed the sport.

Women were given a 16:46 head start on Sunday.

Grigoryeva finished 16 seconds ahead of men’s winner Benson Cherono, the second time in three years that women have won the challenge.

“Competitive nature is taken to a new level when you equalize things between men and women,” Burke said.

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Carlos Carballo of Cathedral City was the first U.S. runner across the finish line -- he finished 13th overall with a time of 2:19:12 -- earning a $5,000 bonus. In the women’s division, Christine Lundy of Sausalito, one of only two U.S. runners in the elite field, was the first American across and eighth overall with a time of 2:43:14. She also received a $5,000 bonus.... Tatyana Pozdnyakova of Ukraine, who won the women’s race in 2003 and the inaugural challenge in 2004, finished sixth in 2:35:46. Pozdnyakova, 51, had announced before the race that it would be her last marathon.... More than 2,000 students from Los Angeles-area schools participated in the marathon after training in the Students Run L.A. program.