Kenya's Catherine Ndereba won the New York Half-Marathon women's crown on Sunday, solidifying her favorite status for the Beijing Olympics marathon, while Ethiopia's Tadesse Tola took the men's title. Ndereba, who won the inaugural womnen's race here in 2006, won the 13.1-mile race in 1hr 10mins 19secs. Mexico's Madai Perez, 28, was second, seven seconds back, and Japan's Yuri Kano, 29, was third, 12 seconds off the winning pace. Tola, 20, outdueled Patrick Makau, 23, to deliver the Kenyan's first defeat in four half-marathons this year. Tola and Makau battled for the last eight miles before the younger runner won in 1:00:58, a second better than Makau. US Olympic marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein, 25, was third in 1:01:38 in his final Beijing tuneup.
