Katie McGregor, seen here running the 2006 New York City Marathon, won the national 25K title on Saturday. © www.photorun.net
Katie McGregor took the 30th edition of the River Bank Run 25K in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday, thereby winning the national championship for the distance. In her her debut at 25K, the 29-year-old clocked 1:25:53, the fifth fastest performance in American history, and won comfortably ahead of Russia’s Tatiana Chulakh (1:28:33). Former Stanford University star Alicia Craig (U.S.) was third in 1:29:25. Though it was McGregor’s debut at 25K, she had run a longer race before—last fall she clocked 2:32:36 at the New York City Marathon. In 2005, McGregor won the national 10,000m track title in 31:21.20.
The men’s race was won by Julius Kibet with 1:14:25. The Kenyan just missed the fastest time of the year at this distance by three seconds; fellow Kenyan Patrick Makau Musyoki had run 1:14:22 six days earlier in Berlin. Brian Sell was second in 1:14:48, securing the US title. Fernando Cabada, who set the national record while winning in Grand Rapids last year, was well back in third, with a time of 1:16:51.
Second Berlin Win for Sabrina Mockenhaupt
Sabrina Mockenhaupt won the Avon Running Berlin Women’s 10K for the second time. The 26-year-old German 10,000m champion clocked 34:41. A record number of 12,615 women and girls from 49 countries participated in this event. “These figures show that the running boom is not over yet,” said race director Mark Milde. In the history of the race, more than 100,000 women and girls have taken part so far.
“That is a real highlight; the atmosphere was fantastic along the course,” said Mockenhaupt, who led the race from the start and won easily. She was three minutes ahead of Claudia Tutsch (37:43).
Mockenhaupt will now try to qualify for the World Championships in Osaka at 5,000m, after twice failing to meet the 10,000m qualifying time. “I am not sure yet if I try to qualify for the 10,000m once more,” said Mockenhaupt, who will run her marathon debut in Cologne in October.
Vivian Cheruiyot Takes Women’s Race in Glasgow
There was also a large women’s race in Glasgow this past weekend. Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot won the 10K in 32:08. The former world junior cross country champion had a winning margin of 11 seconds over Ethiopian Aslech Mergi. Hilda Kibet (Kenya) finished third in 32:25. Cheruiyot had run the 1,500m at the IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting in Doha, Qatar only two days earlier.
Kenyans Dominate Karstadt Marathon
About 22,000 participants registered for the Karstadt Marathon in the Ruhr area of Germany. The event included races at shorter distances as well. Kenyans dominated the marathon, which was started in two different cities, taking the first three spots in the men’s and women’s races. The elite men ran from Oberhausen to Essen. Jonathan Keiyo clocked 2:13:28 and was more than six minutes ahead of Jospeh Ngolepus (2:20:07). Eliud Kering finished third in 2:22:49. The women’s elite field started in Dortmund. Mary Ptikany was the fastest on the way to Essen, clocking 2:30:05. Salima Chelimo took second (2:36:58) and Irene Cherop was third (2:41:09).
No Records Possible in Hot Prague Marathon
Runners of another traditional spring marathon in Europe had to battle high temperatures. With temperatures topping 70°, there was no chance for course records in the Prague Marathon. Portugese Helder Ornelas won in 2:11:49, beating Kenyan Luka Chelimo (2:12:36). Paulo Gomes (Portugal) took third with 2:12:51, while pre-race favorite Joseph Riri (Kenya) had to be content with fourth place in 2:13:50. Nailya Yulamanova (Russia) took the women’s race in 2:33:10. Poland’s Malgorzata Sobanska came in second with 2:35:02. Four thousand runners entered the race, which was started by the president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus.
