New Zealand’s Mike Aish won the 2008 Phoenix Marathon

Mike Aish captured the rock and roll Arizona Marathon on Sunday with a time of 2:13:20. He was 50 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Dejene Yirdawe.

The past 4 rock n roll marathons had been won by Africans with the last 3 being won by Ethiopians. On Sunday Mike Aish broke free of Yirdawe with just under 2 miles left.

On women’s category it was Adanech Zekiros who became the 5th African to win the Phoenix Marathon with a course record time of 2:31:14. This was her second consecutive victory at the race. Zekiros was followed by two Ethiopians as well, Salomie Getnet and Asnakech Mengistru made it 2nd and 3rd.