The Romanian Nuta Olaru won the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run on Sunday, April 3 rd , 2005

(…)The women's race ( at the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run ) was considerably less competitive, as 34-year-old Romanian Nuta Olaru ran away from the field to win in 52:01, more than a minute ahead of Gaithersburg-based Russian Alvetina Ivanova.

"She was too strong today," Ivanova said through an interpreter. Winning "was not possible today."

The 8,665 finishers, the most in the race's 33-year history, were buffeted by robust winds as they ran along the Mall, across Memorial Bridge and through Rock Creek Park, although the gusts were at their backs for the final three-and-a-half miles.

Olaru, coming off a strong year in which she was fifth at Boston, 13th at the Olympic Marathon and second at Chicago, has been training in Boulder, Colo., for several months and shrugged off the conditions to run the fastest women's time since 1998.

"The same in Boulder every day -- wind, wind," Olaru said, shortly after calling her mother in Romania to tell her first that she was in Washington running a road race, and second that she had won.

Korir, like Olaru, earned $6,000 for his victory, part of a total purse of $31,000. But while Olaru said she was worried more about her mile splits and less about her competitors, Korir ran a tactical race that was slow in developing. (…)

( Washington Post, April 4th, 2005 )