Philadelphia Marathon champions include Connecticut woman and South African man

Anna Oeser of Brookfield, Conn., came a long way to capture the 32nd annual American Association for Cancer Research Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday in her first race at that distance.

Melikhaya Frans came much farther. The 35-year-old from Gqeberha, South Africa, won the men’s race, crossing the finish line at Eakins Oval in 2 hours, 13 minutes, 57.74 seconds.

Frans had been neck-and-neck with Kenyan runners Elisha Barno (2:15.07.97) and Milton Rotich (2:15.34.21) of the majority of the race, but pulled away during the last few miles. Barno finished second and Rotich third.

“I was so excited because I was supposed to run Cape Town last month, so to come here and win the race, it means a lot to me,” Frans said. “Our hard work [was spent] training there in South Africa. I would like to say thank you to my team, for making this possible, for me to come here. ... I’m so happy to win it.

“I know at home who is watching. My coach is watching, the team is watching. I know [my coach] is crying at the moment. I know when I crossed that line, I know he’s got tears, so I did this for my team at home.”

It was a picture-perfect day for the 17,000 runners who competed, with conditions at 33 degrees at the race’s start, warming to 38 by the time people crossed the finish line.

The day began for the runners at 7 a.m. near City Hall, the first milestone they’d see on the 26.2-mile route that featured Center City, the Schuylkill, University City, and the ending alongside the Art Museum.

“I can say Philadelphia is the same as the [Rimi] Riga [Marathon in Latvia] to me because I won the Riga,” Frans said. “... The elevation is the same as Cape Town, so it’s not so difficult for me. And it’s home to me. I know Cape Town was home ... but [Philadelphia] is my second home now.”

Along the way were plenty of friends and family to cheer on their loved ones. For the runners, water stations and bathrooms could be found near each mile marker.

» READ MORE: ‘Philly will eat you alive:’ Runners brave the deceptively challenging route of the city’s marathon

“Every time it got a little quiet and I was like, ‘OK, where is everybody?’ the crowds erupted in the next 200 feet,” said Oeser, who finished in 2:34:55.56, holding off Michka-Mae Hyde of Jamaica, who finished in 2:35:27.19.

“A bunch of my friends are here,” Oeser said. “They kind of staggered around the bridge on [mile] 9, 12, that area, but [my boyfriend] is from Newtown, Pennsylvania, and a lot of my friends live in New York, so they took the train over and they’re here to support me.”

For Oeser, a Boston College graduate, the support helped push her through her first marathon. Before the race, the farthest she had run was 21 miles in training. She described it as “grueling” from Mile 17 on.

“I think I just kept an open mind knowing this is uncharted territory,” she said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel good. So, trying to stay away from all the thoughts of ‘Oh, this is when people hit the wall’ and be like, ‘Hey, maybe that won’t be my experience.’”

Miguel Vergara, 25, of Chula Vista, Calif., won the wheelchair race in 1:44:22.

Frans, Oeser, and Vergara received golden wreaths and medals for their victories. The wreaths are something new to the marathon this year.

“When you look at the start of democracy overall, it happened in the running of the marathon in Greece,” Philadelphia Marathon race director Kathleen Titus said. “... They started the beginning of democracy, but then 400 years later, Philadelphia brought that democracy to what it is today.

“We went through and really had to think mindfully of what we want the wreaths to look like. What do we want that experience to be? ... We wanted to be different. We wanted to be symbolistic to Philadelphia.”