Foreign contenders were expected to overwhelm the field again in the 10-kilometer Peachtree Road Race.
However, it didn't work out that way.Ed Eyestone of Bountiful, Utah, ended eight years of foreign domination Thursday, finishing in 28 minutes, 34 seconds.
"I had a good track workout last week. I thought I could come here and surprise a lot of people," said the 30-year-old Eyestone, the first American to win the race since Jon Sinclair in 1982.
"I had that in the back of my mind that it might be nice for an American to win it," Eyestone said. "I don't usually get that jingoistic about it because I always race against these guys."
Dorthe Rasmussen of Denmark won the women's race in 32:42.
Eyestone, the 11th seed, took over the lead in the last mile.
At the top of the last hill, "I was in a position to make a move," he said. "I did, and fortunately no one came with me. I don't have a great kick, but I have an average one. I can outkick about half the guys out there. Fortunately, I picked the right half."
Eyestone was injured after the Boston Marathon and was forced to rest for about a month. That probably helped him, he said.
"I think I was a little fresher than a lot of guys."
The No. 1 men's seed, William Musyoki of Kenya, dropped back early and failed to finish. He was unable to overcome a recent hip injury.
"I have another race in two weeks for the world championship team in Kenya, and I thought that was more important, so I didn't want to risk hurting it more," Musyoki said.
Rasmussen passed Katerina Khramenkova of the Soviet Union in the last fifth of a mile, winning by just three seconds.
"I was very tired, but I tried to keep going," she said. "When there were about two kilometers left, I felt I had some kick in my legs. She (Khramenkova) looked very tired."
With the temperature at 77 degrees at the 8 a.m. start, it was the hottest Peachtree since 1983, when it was 80. The humidity was 85 percent.
"It's definitely the hottest and most humid race I've ever run in," Eyestone said.
A record 34 runners were taken to hospitals for heat-related problems but all but two were treated and released. More than 100 people were treated on the site with cold towels, ice and fluids.
The total purse was $52,000, with $5,000 each going to the men's and women's winners.
The Peachtree, limited to 40,000 runners, is the 14th race on the 21-race Association of Road Racing Athletes 1991 circuit, and the third largest. Only the Examiner Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco and the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Wash., both 12-kilometer races held in May, have larger fields.
Craig Blanchette of Springfield, Ore., won the men's wheelchair division in a record 20:16, and Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., took the women's division in 23:46.