by Race Results Weekly
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
HOUSTON (19-Jan) — Conner Mantz and Weini Kelati set new American records at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon on a chilly and windy morning here. Mantz, 28, the reigning USATF marathon champion, crushed Ryan Hall’s mythical record of 59:43 set here in 2007, running 59:17 and nearly winning the race overall. Kelati, 28, broke her record of 1:06:25 set here a year ago, clocking 1:06:09.
“It was a special day today,” said Mantz, who finished second to Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobena by 4/100ths of a second (both athletes were given the same time). He added: “My coach, Ed Eyestone, prepared me well.”
Mantz made his intentions known right from the gun at 6:45 a.m. With a black watch cap pulled down low on his head, Mantz tucked in behind pacemaker Amon Kemboi of Kenya and Gobena, Gabriel Geay of Tanzania, and Jemal Yimer of Ethiopia, twice the race champion here.
Kemboi did a great job, taking the quartet of contenders through 5 km in 14:02 and 10 km in 28:01. That pace was below the required one to break Feyisa Lelisa’s course record of 59:22, set in 2012.
Although Kemboi dropped just after 10-K, the pace remained strong through 15-K. The third 5-kilometer segment was timed at 14:04, and the four athletes were rotating against the wind. Gobena did a lot of the leading.
Remarkably, the four stayed together all the way to the final kilometer, and it was only inside the final 200 meters that a head-to-head sprint between Gobena and Mantz set up. Gobena had a one-step lead and appeared to be getting away, but Mantz surged on the Ethiopian’s left and tried to overtake him. As the two barreled for the narrow finish tape, Gobena angled slightly to his left, squeezing Mantz, who nearly ran into one of the tape holders. Officials confirmed that Gobena was the winner, and the two athletes embraced after the finish.
“I was thrilled to be able to run with all those runners,” said Gobena, who won $15,000 in prize money. “I was thrilled to be able to compete with such great athletes.”
Along the way to his record, Mantz split 42:05 at 15 miles, 45:16 at 10 miles, and 56:23 at 20 miles. Those are all pending national records.
“This is a record I really wanted,” said Mantz, looking slightly shocked. “I want to lower it down the road.”
Going down the finish order, Geay took third in 59:18, Yimer got fourth in 59:20, and Britain’s Patrick Dever took fifth in 1:00:11.
In the women’s race, Kelati also set pending American records at 15 miles (46:32), 10 miles (50:05), and 20 miles (1:02:43).
“The goal is just to run hard from the beginning (and) that’s what I did,” said Kelati, who said that stomach problems almost derailed her race today.
Like Mantz, Kelati finished second. Senayet Getachew of Ethiopia picked up five seconds on Kelati in the 20th kilometer and held a four-second lead to the finish. She won in 1:06:05 and claimed the $15,000 first prize.
“The race was perfect, very tough,” said Getachew through a translator. She continued: “I have never run in weather like this.”
Mantz and Kelati took home $18,000: $8,000 for second place and $10,000 for setting new national records.
The Chevron Houston Marathon lacked the fireworks of the half but was still an exciting race. The men’s elite pack went out conservatively in 1:04:17, keeping ten men in contention, including Israel’s Haimro Alame, Eritrea’s Yemane Haileselassie, and Kenya’s Shadrack Kimining.
Haileselassie, who won the Honolulu Marathon last month, put in a surge after 30-K, running the 5-kilometer segment between 30 and 35-K in 14:49. That was too fast for most of the pack and set up a three-way battle between Alame, Haileselassie, and Kimining just past 40-K. Alame jumped and ran away for the win in 2:08:17. He won $50,000 in prize money.
“At the beginning, it was slower because it was so cold, so the only option was to save everything for the finishing kick,” said Alame, clutching the Israeli flag.
Haileselassie took second in 2:08:25, Kimining got third in 2:08:29, and France’s Hugo Taupiac took fourth in 2:08:50. Christian Allen was the top American in seventh place in 2:10:32. His time was the fastest ever by an American man in Houston.
In the women’s division of the marathon, Ethiopia’s Kumeshi Sinhala got away from compatriot Tsige Haileslase and American Erika Kemp in the 26th kilometer. For the rest of the race, she had only men for company. She cruised to a personal best of 2:20:42.
“It was after the halfway that I left everyone behind,” said Sichala through a translator. “After the pacemaker dropped out, I followed runners (men) running for themselves. At 26-K, I was able to pull away.”
Kemp, who was running in only her second marathon, achieved her goal of running the “massive PB” she said she was trying for. She finished second in 2:22:56, a 2025 World Championships qualifier and the second-fastest time ever by an American woman in Houston. She improved her personal best by over 11 minutes.
Haileslase, who struggled in the second half, held on for third in 2:25:09. Fourth went to another Ethiopian, Anna Dibaba, in 2:26:49. Amber Zimmerman of Philadelphia got fifth in 2:29:01.
The Aramco Houston Half-Marathon and Chevron Houston Marathon are World Athletics Gold Label Road Races. This is the only event with two Gold Label races contested on the same day at the same time.
