document: Patience is often difficult to muster for those who run the 26.2 miles of a marathon . The tendency is to want to finish the race as soon as possible and get a head start on recovering from it . Patience was its own virtue in the Long Beach Marathon Sunday , as the men 's and women 's winners shrewdly waited for others to make mistakes and for the sun -- which was obscured by cloud cover early in the race -- to burn through and take a toll on the runners . Rex Wilson of New Zealand patiently waited for the lead pack to sort itself out , took the lead at 10 miles and rolled to a victory in 2 hours 12 minutes 27 seconds , a course record . The old record of 2:13:22 was set in 1986 by Ric Sayre . Among the women , the race played itself out in a calm , if not orderly , fashion . Wen Yanmin , a 23-year-old student from Bejing , China , picked her way through a strung-out pack and out-kicked Laura Konatz of Toronto to win in 2:43:33 , also a course record . Yanmin broke the old record of 2:44:51 set last year by Dianne Rodgers . Robert Molinatti of Huntington Beach won the wheelchair division in 1:47:59 . Run as a race within a race was the Pacific Rim Marathon , which consists of teams from invited countries . Wilson and Yanmin won both the Long Beach Marathon and the Pacific Rim race , for total prize money of $ 9,500 each . Conditions were excellent at the start of the race , which had its largest-ever field of 4,021 entrants . The weather for the first 1 1/2 hours was cloudy and cool . But the mist burned off and the last eight miles -- the toughest portion of the marathon -- became even tougher . The refrain from the runners was , `` It 's not the heat , it 's the humidity . '' The men 's race was led at various times by a pack of about six runners . One by one they fell victim to the weather or other equally debilitating elements . Viktor Gural of the Soviet Union , who had been among the leaders for most of the race , said he had trouble with everything . Gural emphatically said it was too hot , `` The sun went to work , '' was how he put it , and he said he experienced tenderness in his liver during the race . American food also did not agree with Gural -- his stomach was upset . He dropped from third to fifth in the race 's final stages . Samson Obwocha , a Kenyan who lives in Gardena , waited for Gural to fade and then made his move . `` I saw him struggling and I knew I could outkick him , '' Obwocha said . He did , and finished fourth in 2:28.08 . Wilson also made a move , or more precisely , he continued his steady 5:03 mile pace while the rest of the field slowed from the early , faster pace . `` I did n't really want to lead all the way , '' Wilson said . `` But I wanted to run at 5-minute pace , so I had to lead . '' The strategy resulted in a personal best time in only his third marathon -- an event he dislikes . `` I hate the marathon , '' Wilson , 28 , said , sounding quite sensible . `` At 21 miles I started to hurt . My legs were getting tired , my quads were getting tight . Those little bridges at the end were like mountains . '' Still , Wilson built a healthy lead on those `` mountains '' in Belmont Shores . Tomio Bueyoshi of Japan was second in 2:15:31 and Liu Wenzun of China was third in 2:19:16 . Yanmin had to come from behind for her victory , giving the women 's race an exciting finish . As happened in the men 's race , the runners in the lead pack ebbed and eventually faded . Guadalupe Roman of Mexico led through much of the race but lost ground steadily in the last five miles and finished sixth . Two Soviet runners -- Irina Ruban and Tatiana Zueva -- who had run side-by-side in third and fourth place throughout the race , faded . Neither placed in the top 50 . It fell to Konatz , who had been in first and second throughout the race , to hang in there . Even as the Chinese runner was bearing down on her as the finish line came into sight . Konatz was happy with her second place time of 2:43:50 . Asked if she was ever aware of Yanmin during the race , Konatz laughed . `` The marathon is an unpredictable event , '' she said . `` I knew at 25 miles if someone had a good kick ... '' Someone did . So did Ngaire Drake of New Zealand , who was third in 2:44:09 .
extractive_keyphrases: long beach marathon patience winners rex wilson wen yanmin course record race