01:00 AM EDT on Monday, September 27, 2004

BY TOM MEADE
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Patrick Nthiwa, 21, of Kenya, a newcomer to distance running, won the men's division of Cerrone Providence Half Marathon yesterday, while a long-distance veteran, Tatyana Pozdnyakova, 49, of Ukraine, won the women's and master's divisions, her third distance victory in Providence. Jo Thompson, 45, of Great Britain, another master's division runner, was second.

Colliding with a police motorcycle in the home stretch may have cost Valentine Orare, 21, the overall victory.

"The end of the course was very confusing," said Nthiwa who won the 13.1-mile race in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 36 seconds, a second ahead of Orare, after Orare ran into the motorcycle, parked at the course's final turn.

Orare, also of Kenya, led a pack of 10 elite Africans off the starting line. With them was American Marzuki Stevens of Somerville, Mass.

Within two miles, the Kenyans dropped Stevens, and Orare went to the head of the pack.

"For me, the pace was too slow in the beginning," Orare said. "The guys were depending on me to set the pace, so little by little, I pushed it."

From a 5:11 first mile, Orare sliced seconds off each mile with six of his countrymen taking turns at the front with him.

When they hit the first significant decline, on Atwells Avenue, the lead pack completed a mile in 4:35.

Then, one at a time, the runners in front began to fade away. After Mile 6, there were only five of them left as they passed the Providence Place mall. They completed 7 miles in 33:36 on a long, flat stretch of Broad Street. Then, Orare kicked, and Nthiwa went with him.

"I didn't want the guy to leave me; that's why I was always there,' Nthiwa said later. He ran on Orare's heels. Two seconds behind the leaders, Samuel Ndereba, 27, said something to Duncan Kibet, 26, and Kibet caught the leaders, but he couldn't stay with them for more than a minute.

Orare looked left, then right, and kicked again, completing 8 miles in 38:19, and 9 miles in 42:53. Nthiwa stayed with him as they opened a 6-second gap on Ndereba and Kibet.

As the leaders climbed a slight hill on Allens Avenue, Orare and Nthiwa stretched their lead to 9 seconds.

Ndereba left Kibet and tried to reel in Orare and Nthiwa as they ran through the Jewelry District. He couldn't catch them, however.

As the leaders entered the final mile, they met the back of the pack, jogging in the opposite direction. "Oh, man, people were running in one direction, and we were running the opposite way," Nthiwa said. "We didn't know where we were going. We thought we were supposed to go straight."

They did, and Orare ran into a police motorcycle, parked there to block the intersection and turn runners toward the finish line at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Orare staggered but regained his footing and caught Nthiwa.

"When we got to the finish, I was just strong enough to kick," Nthiwa said. He beat Orare by a second.

It was first half marathon he and Orare had ever run.

Pozdnyakova, twice the winner of the Ocean State Marathon, easily won yesterday's Cerrone race in 1:15:00, nearly nine minutes ahead of Jo Thompson.

The winner, who has been running since she was 18 years old, will turn 50 next March. "It's a way to stay young," she said yesterday. "All I do is run and run and run."

Her strategy yesterday was simple, she said. "I would try to keep pace with one of the guys, and then I would move up and try to keep pace with a faster one."

That she completed the distance almost two minutes slower than her last half marathon three weeks ago was due to the humidity, Pozdnyakova said.

Though the final seven miles of the course was fast, it was also windy as runners encountered a northerly breeze in their faces.

"It was actually quite hard work because of the wind," said English runner Jo Thompson, who finished second in 1:23:57.

Marzuki Stevens, 30, was the first American to cross the finish line. He was eighth overall in 1:08:31.

Andrew Masai, 44, was the first men's master, finishing ninth overall in 1:08:56.

Keven O'Neil, 34, of North Kingstown finished 10th overall in 1:10:01, the first Rhode Islander.

Tara Cardi, 35, of East Greenwich was the first Rhode Island woman to finish and the ninth woman overall in 1:28:30.