Leader pulls up short at end of Bix 7

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By Don Doxsie | Saturday, July 26, 2008 8:19 PM CDT | () comments

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VIDEO: Bix 7: Strange Finish
Maregu Zewdie, who finished second, says that he thought the race was over …
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UPDATED: It wasn’t the biggest Quad-City Times Bix 7 ever or the hottest.

It might have been the strangest.

The men’s race was decided when the leader pulled up prematurely a few hundred yards from the finish line. And a woman old enough to win the masters division claimed the overall female championship.

Many experts were predicting that runners from Ethiopia would end Kenya’s perennial dominance of the race. The favorites were Maregu Zewdie and Ashu Kasim, both of Ethiopia.

Instead, it was the eighth time in Bix history that Kenyans won the men’s and women’s title.

But it took an assist from Zewdie to make it happen. He and Kenya’s Edward Muge were together as they turned the final corner and began the last quarter-mile sprint down Fourth Street. As Zewdie crossed under the skywalk in front of the Davenport RiverCenter, he made a slash sign across his throat and stopped.

Muge, a 25-year-old who won Kenya’s 10,000-meter championship this year but somehow didn’t make his country’s Olympic team, took advantage of Zewdie’s faux pas and crossed the finish line 9 seconds ahead of him.

“Because he stopped I am thankful for winning,” Muge said.

“As I crossed the finish line I was thinking that I was too happy.”

Edith Masai managed to hold off another Kenyan, 25-year-old Angelina Mutuku, to win the women’s race by one second with Kasim finishing third. Masai, 41, became the first person older than 40 to win the race.

The race’s “jackpot” runner, Moline fireman Ben Houtekier, did not manage to beat the elite runners to the finish line in spite of a 2-mile head start. In fact, 13 runners crossed the finish line ahead of him. But Rhythm City Casino, which offered $3,400 if Houtekier could win, gave the money instead to the fund benefiting Davenport fireman Bob Juarez, who was injured battling a blaze last month.

The race drew a total of 13,711 entries. Even combined with the 3,084 kids who ran the Alcoa Jr. Bix on Friday, it still was the Bix 7’s smallest turnout since 1990.

Bix 7: Muge wins men's race in 32:16; Masai wins women's race in 37:20

EARLIER STORY: Edward Muge of Kenya won the Quad-City Times Bix 7 race in a time of 32 minutes and 16 seconds. Maregu Zewdie of Ethiopia was second at 32:25.

Edith Masai of Kenya was the top female finisher at 37 minutes and 20 seconds. Angelina Mutuku of Kenya was second at 37:21