Lornah Kiplagat won the World’s Best 10K in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the fifth straight year on Sunday night. The native-born Kenyan, who now runs for Holland, ran the course in a fast 31:02. After a dramatic finish, the Ethiopian Deriba Merga ran 28:03 to win the men’s race.
Despite dropping out of the Dubai Marathon last month with a calf injury, Kiplagat seemed at full strength in San Juan. She needed to be, because for much of the race she was joined by the Ethiopian Mestawet Tufa, who made a late-race bid for the lead. But in the end, Tufa faded while Kiplagat surged, and the reigning world cross country champion won by 10 seconds. Third was Elvan Abeylegesse, the world silver medalist at 10,000m last year. She ran 31:38; two other women also broke 32:00.
In the men’s race, the first ten places went to Africans. Silas Kipruto has had better days – after taking the lead soon before the finish, he followed a vehicle that left the course. Although the Kenyan realized his fault immediately, decisive meters were lost, and Merga was able to finish one second ahead of Kipruto. Third was the Kenyan Wilson Kipsang in 28:09.
Tegenkamp Retains Indoor Title
KIMbia’s Matt Tegenkamp overtook fellow KIMbia runner Chris Solinsky with 300 meters to go to win his second straight national indoor 3,000m title on Saturday. Their training partner, Jonathan Riley, placed third at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
After a slow opening pace (5:36 for the first 2,000 meters), Solinsky took the lead with four laps to go and significantly increased the pace and decreased the chase pack. Running his first race since September, Tegenkamp patiently worked his way up to Solinsky’s shoulder, and then shot past him on the backstretch of the penultimate lap. Because of the initial pace, Tegenkamp’s winning time was a modest 8:02.52. Solinsky and Riley ran 8:03.80 and 8:04.86, respectively. Solinsky will run the world indoor championships in Valencia, Spain in two weeks.
The women’s 3,000m was less of a tactical race, with Olympian Jen Rhines setting the pace through 2,000m in 6:02. Just before the beginning of the last lap, Shannon Rowbury emerged from the chase pack and ran an unmatched last 200 meters to win in a personal best of 8:55.19. Rhines held on for second in 8:59.98, and Julie Culley closed well to take third in 9:00.14.
Three Break 61:00 at Rome Half Marathon
The fastest men at the Rome Ostia half marathon achieved great times. Kenya’s Jonathan Kosgei won the race in 60:19, and second and third places went to two of his compatriots, James Kwambai in 60:22 and David Mandago Kipkorir in 60:23. In the women’s race it was the second win at a big event for Souad Ait Salem in the Italian metropolis. In March 2007 the runner from Algeria had surprisingly won the Rome Marathon in a course record of 2:25:08; this weekend, she won in 69:15 over half the half distance. Second and third places went to Vincenza Sicari (Italy/70:21) and Margaret Okayo (Kenya/73:06). Okayo, former winner of the London and New York City Marathons, is making a comeback after a long injury lay-off.
