Leghzaoui uses strong finish to win going away

Like so many other Bloomsdays past, the elite female runners essentially ran two races – one before Doomsday Hill, and one after it.

Before hitting the 6.5-percent grade, Kathy Butler of Great Britain paced a group of nine runners. By the time Butler and the pack got to the top of the hill, however, they were 40 yards behind Moroccan Asmae Leghzaoui. And soon, that gap was 140 yards.

For the final two miles, it became a race for second as Leghzaoui cruised back into downtown Spokane with a 16-second margin of victory and a time of 39:33.

“The run today was very good. Nice weather, nice people,” said Leghzaoui, who dedicated the victory to her 1-year-old daughter and said it’s a good step in her preparation for the New York Mini-10K.

But her victory did not come without some degree of controversy among the other competitors. The diminutive distance runner was competing in just her third event after a two-year suspension for a positive drug test. Her bio states that Leghzaoui was on maternity leave, but she was forced to stop racing in May 2003 after she tested positive for EPO, a peptide hormone that can increase aerobic capacity and muscle endurance.

Her Bloomsday win was the first since the suspension for the 28-year-old Leghzaoui, who set world records in 10K and then the 8K and 2002. Both marks have since been broken.

“I think things like that should be a lifetime ban,” said Butler, who sprinted ahead of the pack to finish in second place behind Leghzaoui. “I don’t think everything should be because people make mistakes and take medicine, but what she took? I don’t think she should be allowed. I don’t think organizers should bring her into it. I know it’s a controversial thing.”

Race director Don Kardong said he had no problem with Leghzaoui winning as she has served her suspension and is eligible to race.

“She’s eligible, so we can’t kick somebody out because of something they did before,” Kardong said. “We’re fine (with it).”

Behind Butler were Poland’s Dorota Gruca, Australia’s Kerryn McCann and Russia’s Lydia Grigorieva. Defending champion Albina Ivanova fell back to seventh after making a brief move forward with Leghzaoui on Doomsday Hill.

Before the hill, the women were progressing at a slightly slower than usual pace with no runner making any move to build a lead. The lead pack narrowed within the first mile to about a third of the 35 elite runners, but did little to change thereafter.

“For me, I’m getting ready to run track. So the early pace compared to some of these marathon girls, probably felt a little bit easier,” Butler said, explaining the early lead. “It wasn’t intentional. I was kind of like, ‘Oh, no.’ A couple of times I looked around and there was this huge pack behind me.

“I had a feeling that Leghzaoui was going to go hard up the hill.”