It takes determination and passion to run a marathon, but Hyvon Ngetich dug deep and tapped a different reservoir of grit when she found the going rough near the finish line of the Austin Marathon.
The 29-year-old Kenyan who had led most of the race began struggling after about 23 miles Sunday. About one-fifth of a mile from the finish line she simply ran out of steam, but she refused all offers of help and crawled on all fours across the finish line, finishing just three seconds behind the second-place finisher in a time of 3:04:02.
“For the last two kilometers, I don’t remember,” Ngetich told KEYE-TV. “Finish line, I have no idea.”
Medical personnel determined that Ngetich had dangerously low blood sugar, Race Director John Conley said, but receiving assistance on the course would have disqualified her and she wasn’t about to let that happen. Cynthia Jerop, the winner with a time of 2:54:21, got $3,000, with Hannah Steffan, the second-place finisher, getting $2,000. Ngetich would have stood to earn $1,000, but Conley was moved to do something unusual.
“You ran the bravest race and crawled the bravest crawl I have ever seen in my life,” Conley told Ngetich, still sitting in a wheelchair, after the race. “You have earned much honor, and I am going to adjust your prize money, so you get the same prize money you would have gotten if you were second.”
Ngetich, whose personal best is a 2:34:42 marathon, was pretty blase about her experience.
“Running, always, you have to keep going, going,” she told Keye-TV. “You have to die running.”
After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.
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