Nuta Olaru won yesterday’s inaugural Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon in 2:28:53 in cold start conditions below 40 degrees. Olaru took control of the race from Boston Marathon and London Marathon course recordholder Margaret Okayo and Russia’s Svetlana Ponomarenko shortly after 10K. She steadily increased her lead each mile, with a gap of as much as 1:45 at 21 miles. With the race well in hand, she held on comfortably to win by some 40 seconds.

Coach Dumitru Pop commented, “The Denver race three weeks ago was a good sign. She did 2:42 at altitude in what was only supposed to be her final long run before San Antonio. The cold weather also helped, as Nuta likes this very much. As for the pace, two years ago in Chicago she did the same thing to go with them when the start was aggressive, and it paid off with a 2:26. This should also qualify her for the Romanian team for next summer’s world championships in Berlin, as we heard that the qualifying mark for the team might be set at 2:30:00.”

Olaru’s only two other marathon wins in more than 30 starts came in Colorado races she had been using as training runs. She has had several heartbreaking losses, including runner-up results at Los Angeles in 2000 and 2001, the latter when she led to the final mile only to be passed when she became sick to her stomach on the final hill, and also in 2004 Chicago. She also was part of the amazing 2005 Las Vegas Marathon that had four women sprinting for the finish over the final 400m, finishing 4th and just 2 seconds off the win there. Olaru commented, “When Margaret went out so fast [34:16 for the opening 10K], I decided to go with her. I felt good most of the way, but became sick to my stomach just after 17 miles, and this threw me off my rhythm a little bit; otherwise, I thought I could go under 2:27:00. But I am very happy to get this win.”