Smiling and waving, Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya was already celebrating his victory in the Chicago Marathon as he approached the finish line. He had no idea a $100,000 bonus was still hanging in the balance. Wanjiru won the marathon with the fastest time on American soil, finishing in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 41 seconds, and collected a big bonus check on a bone-chilling Sunday morning.With temperatures in the low- to mid-30s, Wanjiru turned in the best time in the U.S. and beat by one second the mark set by Khalid Khannouchi in Chicago in 1999. He got $75,000 for winning and $100,000 for the course record, although he nearly cost himself that bonus by waving to the crowd as he approached the finish.Had he finished a second later and not broken the record, he would have received an extra $75,000 instead for posting one of the three fastest finishes in the race's history.
No comments:
Post a Comment