Chevron Houston Marathon / Aramco Houston Half Marathon – News – Mantz, Kelati Make History At Aramco Houston Half-Marathon

MANTZ, KELATI MAKE HISTORY AT ARAMCO HOUSTON HALF-MARATHON
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 own 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 really 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 along with 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 put them just under the required pace 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 in 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 of 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 very happy to be able to run with all of those runners,” said Gobena, who won $15,000 in prize money.  “I was very happy to be able to compete with such great athletes.”

Along the way to his record, Mantz split 42:05 at 15-K, 45:16 at 10 miles, and 56:23 at 20-K.  Those are all pending national records.

“This is a record I really wanted,” said Mantz, looking a little shocked.  “I want to lower it down the road.”

Going down the finish order, Geay took third in…