Nuta Olaru (ASICS) has just won this evening’s Zappos.com Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, her second win this year on Competitor Group’s Rock ‘n’ Roll circuit. Her 2:51:31 win was just two seconds ahead of runner-up Andrian Neal. The margin of victory was a repeat of her two-second victory in October’s USATF master’s championship. The Competitor Group website shows tonight’s finish as being even closer, 1.27 seconds.

“This was so tough, it was very, very windy. I also had a cramp in my right leg, so I decided to wait and sprint the final 100m. It was a crazy wind…sometimes behind us, sometimes behind, left side, right side. I feel like the last ten miles it was only in our faces, ” commented Nuta after the race. If anything, Nuta’s sprinting must be getting better with age; at the 2005 New Las Vegas Marathon, she was part of a four-women lead pack still together with 400m to go, and ended up 4th in the final sprint.