Long Beach Marathon : Naek Sagala, Dianne Rodger Win in a Breeze

Jeff Dettmer of Anaheim decided Sunday morning to enter the Long Beach Marathon. Had he known he was going to be battered by gusting winds, he might have thought better of it.

As it was, Dettmer, a 27-year-old janitor, led the 26.2-mile race for 25 miles, and was passed in the last mile by Naek Sagala of Indonesia. Sagala’s late kick did little to diminish Dettmer’s courageous run.

Sagala’s winning time of 2 hours 21 minutes 37 seconds also gave him the championship of the Pacific Rim Marathon, which was run concurrently. In all, more than 3,700 runners started the seventh-annual race.

The women’s winner was Dianne Rodger of New Zealand. Rodger, 31, had never run a marathon and had never even trained at the distance. Sunday’s race was the longest she had ever run. She has plenty of running experience, however, having been on two New Zealand Olympic teams at 1,500 and 3,000.

Rodger’s time of 2:44:52 set a women’s course record. The old record of 2:44:59 was set by Rosario Avalos in 1985.

Rodger also won the Pacific Rim race, which consisted of runners from eight Pacific and Asian nations. The pre-race men’s favorite, Wu Zhihan of China, was third.

It was Dettmer who captivated spectators. Running in nondescript shorts and singlet and battered shoes that were at least eight years old, the lanky runner hardly cut a world-class figure.

But he took the lead from the start and ran alone--battling the winds by himself while runners behind him ran in packs, drafting--until Sagala reeled him in at 25 miles.

“It was too dry and too windy,” Dettmer said. His personal best is 2:14, run in 1982. “The temperature was OK. I was trying for a 2:17. The pace wasn’t too fast, they were just too slow at the start.”

Sagala, a policeman from Jakarta, was battling jet lag as well as wind. It was his first race outside of Asia. Still, this was his fastest marathon ever.

“I never thought I would win,” he said through an interpreter. “I always thought the man in first would.”

Asked what he thought of the crowds along the race and colorful, circus-like atmosphere, Sagala, answering himself, said: “Mav-a-lous.”

The women’s race was led much of the way by Maricarmen Cardenas of Mexico. She eventually finished fourth in 2:55:12.

By 11 miles, Aracely Salas of Mexico went past Cardenas and in the switchbacks of Naples and Belmont Shore those two, plus Rodger, pulled away from the rest of the women. At 14 miles, Rodger was second and gaining.

“I was in second for the last two miles but she was slowing,” Rodger said. “It took a little while to pull her in.”

Rodger had heard stories about what to expect in her first marathon, but no one had told her about the wind.

“It was very windy out there,” she said. Rodger said she attempted to run in packs or behind other runners to shield herself from the headwinds.

“I tried it, but it seemed like every time I got behind a guy, I passed him. We were being buffetted about.

“Everyone said it was going to get tough at 20 miles. I felt good at 20 miles. If there had been a tail win I could have picked it up. I’d certainly like to have another go at it, I can run faster.”

Salas has run faster, a 2:45 at high altitude in Mexico City. But it is unlikely she could have run faster Sunday, as she entered the race minutes before the start. Salas ran the Los Angeles Marathon March 6 to try to make the Mexican national team. She placed 12th.

Then she ran in last weekend’s Mt. Sac Relays at both 5,000 and 10,000 meters, again to make the Mexican team that will tour Europe. Salas was third in the 5,000.

Because of the recovery time between the L.A. Marathon and Sunday’s race, and considering the track races in between, Salas was figuring to run only 20 miles Sunday.

“The crowd was cheering so much, because I was in the lead,” she said, through an interpreter. “At 20 miles, the people energized me to keep going. The people were very helpful.”

Because she was a late entrant and not a seeded runner, Salas had to start at the back of the pack, about 30 seconds behind the leaders.