Kenya’s Victor Sitsama, who finished second last year, won Friday’s 41st Subaru Buffalo 4-Mile Chase.
The three-time national champion at Oklahoma State University finished in 18:47, taking the men’s title by 25 seconds from a field of just under 700 and finishing first overall.
The Kenyan runner has won the event’s men’s division every year since 2016.
Last year, Sitzama finished three seconds behind compatriot Simon Kimunge in first place. In June, Sitzma placed seventh in the 3000 meters steeplechase at the NCAA Championships.
Fellow Kenyan Bernard Koech finished second in his Subaru Chase with a time of 19:12, followed by Kenyan Bernard Bosven who finished 13th overall with a time of 21:21. Koech has been in the top 10 in marathons in Italy, Switzerland and Minnesota in recent years.
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In the United States, Dylan Gearanger (19:17), Alex Hislop (19:35) and Joseph Whelan (19:36) finished third to fifth respectively. A native of Old Forge, Pennsylvania, Gear Ranger is a top 10 runner on the 2021 National Marathon Rankings and finished second at the Philadelphia Marathon.
Hislop, from West Amherst, topped the list. He was over 30 seconds better than he was a year ago, but still finished fourth overall. The Rochester suburban Whelan was just under 30 seconds off last year’s third-place finish.
Orchard Park’s Kimberly Tomasik was the fastest female finisher in 22:58, finishing 33rd overall.
Tomasik, who won the inaugural Batavia Downs Jackpot 5K in June, became the first American to win in either the men’s or women’s division since Jessica Odolcic of Ohio in 2012.
Tomasik improved his time by less than two minutes compared to last year. She finished fifth among the women in last year’s Subaru 4-Mile Chase.
East Aurora’s Mackenzie Rowe was second overall for the women with 23:03, while South Rochester’s Trisha Beiler was third with 23:04.
Three-time women’s champion Monica Nguige was expected to return to the event this year, but did not. She won the 2016, 2017 and 2019 races, and finished fifth at the 2022 Boston Marathon.
Among the youngest runners in the Subaru 4-Mile Chase was 14-year-old Henry Peterson from Buffalo. He finished 12th with a time of 21:16, making him the youngest player to enter the top 20. Fresh out of his eighth grade at the City Honors, Peterson was named New York’s Middle School Runner of the Year by MileSplit.
