Vicoty Chepngeno Breaks Monterey Bay Half Marathon Course Record, Futsum Zienasellassie Falls Just Short

By Adam Kopet

Futsum Zienasellassie and Kenya's Vicoty Chepngeno won the Monterey Bay Half Marathon Sunday.

RESULTS

Zienasallassie won a close race in California over Panuel Mkungo of Kenya and Patrick Smyth. He finished one second off the course record, finishing in 1:02:33. That is a personal best by 27 seconds. The course record of 1:02:32 was set by Ian Dobson in 2006.

Mkungo finished four seconds behind Zienasallassie in 1:02:37. Smyth was another two seconds back in third.

Chepngeno won the women's race by more than three minutes. She crossed the finish line in 1:08:03, taking 1:40 off the course record, which dated back to 2010.

Milly Clark of Australia finished second in 1:11:50. Monicah Ngige of Kenya, the 2018 champion, finished third in 1:11:59. Last year's Monterey Bay Half Marathon was canceled due to wildfire smoke, essentially making Ngige the defending champion.

Margareta Montoya was the top American in the race. She finished fifth in 1:13:34.