It was mother's day in Salt Lake City Marathon

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Twenty months after giving birth to twins, Keri Cannon was the first woman finisher in Saturday's Salt Lake City Marathon. The South Jordan resident started fast, negotiated the middle of the course and validated her prerace confidence in a top-three finish with a time of 3:09.07.

The only problem? Nobody knew it.

In what was a bizarre ending to the marathon, at one point or another, three different women, including Cannon, thought they had been the fastest female in the race.

First, there was Cassandra Resudek, of Lakewood, Colo., who described what she thought was her first-ever marathon victory as a "great feeling, and a personal record for me."

Then there was Lindsey Fitch, a physical therapist from Avon, Colo., who also thought she had come up with her first marathon victory.

"It was a good start for me," Fitch said at the time. "I thought I did a good job in keeping a good pace. This is a thrill for me."

And then there was Cannon, who turned out to be the actual winner with a time that was a minute better than Fitch's.

So how did it happen? We may never fully know, as repeated phone calls to Sarah Buhr, the media coordinator for the marathon, weren't returned.

But Cannon, when reached on Saturday night by The Salt Lake Tribune, said she started the race late. And since the time of an individual runner doesn't begin until he or she reaches the starting line, she became the top female winner without physically being the first to cross the finish line.

The entire ordeal ended with Fitch handing the finish line tape over to Cannon in what was an awkward moment for both.

"She was so nice about it," Cannon said. "She said, 'Sorry,' but she doesn't have anything to be sorry about. It truly was surreal to win, and I never thought I would win a marathon."

It all overshadowed what was a dominant performance by Jonathan Ndambuki, who won the marathon in 2:25.56.

Ndambuki's competition Saturday didn't come from an official competitor. His actual foil on this day was Joseph Mutinda, his friend and teammate from the Amerikenyan Running Club.

With Mutinda setting Ndambuki's pace for the first 18 miles, the rest of the field became invisible. The two pulled away from the pack in Sugar House Park, at the eight-mile mark, and were by themselves for the remainder of the race.

And when Mutinda called it a day, it was only Ndambuki, who won his first Salt Lake City Marathon.

"It was important for my success in this race," Ndambuki said. "To have Joseph pacing me was important. It was a little rough when he stopped running because there was nobody to run against."

It was an issue Ndambuki would have encountered had Mutinda, the 2009 Salt Lake City Marathon winner, not been on hand. How dominant was Ndambuki?

His time was nine minutes ahead of the second overall finisher, Clyde Behunin, of St. George, who finished at 2:34.49.

Salt Lake City's Jack Dasilva was the top local male finisher at 2:40.54, and he was fifth overall in the standings.

It was much like the majority of the eight Salt Lake City Marathons that an elite runner from Kenya dominated.

Ndambuki mastered the steep incline of Sugar House Park as if he were running downhill. His pace was almost that of a full sprint for much of the time, and he didn't let up once Mutinda stopped running.

It all added up to a dominant 26.2 miles for Ndambuki, who finished strong when it counted.

"I thought he ran really well," Mutinda said.

"He was good throughout the race — not only when I was pacing him. He ran a very good race today."

tjones@sltrib.com —