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Conner Mantz dropped Ryan Hall’s 18-year-old American half marathon record at the 2025 Houston Half Marathon clocking a 59:17 performance. He finished tied for first on the clock with Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobenaand but Mantz was given second place. They are both credited at the same time.
Hall’s record was 59:43, previously set during the 2007 Houston Half Marathon. The weather was not ideal with cold temperatures at the start.
Over the final 3km Mantz battled Gobenaand and Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay in a three-man race. The three runners pushed each other to the limit in the final metres. Geay finished third, just a step behind being credited with 59:18.
Several Canadians ran sub-1:07 including Ben Flanagan who clocked a 1:01:19 performance, while Justin Kent recorded a 1:03:47 finish time. Ben Preisner ran 1:02:24, Thomas Nobbs 1:03:48, Alex Cyr 1:05:04, John Gay 1:05:05, Alex Neuffer 1:05:34 and
Nicolas Morin 1:06:05.
For Preisner, his run Sunday was a new personal best. His previous best was run in Toronto in 2019 at 1:03:08.
Fourteen men ran sub-1:01:00, and 125 finished under 1:10:00.
Top men
POS | NAME | NAT. | TIME |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Addisu Gobena | ETH | 59:17 |
2 | Conner Mantz | USA | 59:17 |
3 | Gabriel Geay | TZA | 59:18 |
4 | Jemal Yimer | ETH | 59:20 |
5 | Patrick Dever | GBR | 1:00:11 |
6 | Hillary Bor | USA | 1:00:20 |
7 | Wesley Kiptoo | KEN | 1:00:34 |
8 | Andrew Colley | USA | 1:00:47 |
9 | Alex Maier | USA | 1:00:51 |
10 | Clayton Young | USA | 1:00:52 |
Women’s race
American (formerly Eritrea) Weini Kelati ran a new personal best in her winning performance in Houston stopping the clock at 1:06:09. Unlike the men’s race, she finished well ahead of second place. Amanda Vestri rolled in at 1:07:35. She was back 50 seconds at 10km. Natosha Rogers finished exactly a minute back of Vestri in 1:08:35.
For Rogers, she ran a new personal best by one minute and one second.
IMPRESSIVE WIN: A 19-year-old runner just won the women’s Aramco Houston Half Marathon! Congrats! 👟 pic.twitter.com/c2TIOjJH2l
— Charly Edsitty (@CharlyABC13) January 19, 2025
For Kelati, she clocked a new 10-mile record running a 50:05 performance. The run was 47 seconds faster than Molly Huddle’s record time.
The top Canadian was Natasha Wodak who finished in 1:12:47. She was looking for sub-1:10 and perhaps a new Canadian record. Her personal best is 69:41.
Eleven women ran sub-1:10:00, and all of them are American.
Women’s results
POS | NAME | NAT. | TIME |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Senayet Getachew | ETH | 1:06:05 |
2 | Weini Kelati | USA | 1:06:09 |
3 | Buze Diriba Kejela | ETH | 1:06:48 |
4 | Amanda Vestri | USA | 1:07:35 |
5 | Natosha Rogers | USA | 1:08:35 |
6 | Lauren Ryan | AUS | 1:08:43 |
7 | Emily Venters | USA | 1:08:48 |
8 | Taylor Roe | USA | 1:08:48 |
9 | Mercy Chelangat | KEN | 1:08:57 |
10 | Susanna Sullivan | USA | 1:08:59 |
Featured photo credit: Kevin Morris