KIMbia Athletics

Lineth Chepkurui won this morning’s Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington, D.C. over a field that included Olympic and World Championship marathon medalists Catherine Ndereba and Lidia Simon.

The elite women started 10 minutes before the rest of the field, which might partially explain the surprisingly slow opening mile of 5:50. Things got more normal after that, with Lineth breaking away for good in the eighth mile to win comfortably in 54:21.

John Yuda was part of a three-man pack sharing the lead with less than a mile to go, but then stopped briefly to tend to a thigh cramp. When he resumed running, the chase pack had caught him. In a sprint finish among that pack, Yuda and Charles Munyeki were almost the fastest–they finished together in 46:22, tied for fourth overall. Three-time Cherry Blossom champ John Korir was seventh in 46:30. Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi outsprinted Kenyan Nicholas Kamakya for the win, 46:14 to 46:15.

Women’s results | Men’s results

Fasil Bizuneh finished third in yesterday’s Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond, Virginia; the race served as the national 10K road championship. Fasil ran 29:02 to place third behind two Olympians, Abdi Abdirahman (the winner in 28:34) and Dan Browne (28:38).

After a 4:40 opening mile on the out-and-back course, Fasil took the lead and picked up the pace, running 4:30 for the second mile. Then Abdi took the lead, Browne went with him, and the two pulled away from Fasil in the third mile. Abdi and Browne split 14:25 at 5K; Fasil was 3 seconds back.

“It was not really good, not bad,” Fasil said after the race. “I’m looking forward to the Peyton Jordan Invitational at Stanford on May 4th,” where he’ll try to get the Olympic A standard for 10,000m. “I’m looking forward to getting back to Flagstaff and getting back to work.”

Results

What sort of work does the KIMbia Foundation do? It may be a cliche, but it’s true–making the world better by changing one life at a time. A lot of contributions to the foundation are devoted to paying secondary school fees for needy students. (In Kenya, primary education is free; annual fees for a secondary boarding school are approximately half of Kenya’s per capital income, and therefore out of reach for much of the population.)

Donors to the foundation who wish to support education are linked with a specific student. Here’s a letter our foundation’s Peter Vigneron sent to one such donor on behalf of Faith Kosgei, a sponsored student at Singore Girls School in Iten. To learn more about the foundation, including how to contribute, visit the foundation’s page elsewhere on our site.

James,

I’m writing to give you a quick update on your student, Faith Kosgei.

I met with Faith last week at Singore and had the opportunity to speak with her for a few minutes. I’ve also asked her to compose a letter to you, and I hope you’ll receive it within a few weeks. We’re collecting letters and then sending them to the United States with some of the KIMbia athletes traveling for spring races, so it’s a slow (but reliable) process.

I’ve already sent you some of Faith’s biographical information, but this time it’s straight from her, so if I’m repeating myself please forgive me. Faith is a form three student, and one of the smartest in her class. She put together a good record in primary school, and was asked to attend Singore after doing well on the national primary school exam. Singore is one of the best secondary schools in Kenya, so an invitation to attend is a big deal.

Faith, however, is one of six children, and her parents were concerned about tuition at Singore. They wanted her to attend the local day school, which is cheaper (no boarding fees) but like most day schools in Kenya, it is massively over crowded, and the quality of education is very, very low. Faith convinced her mother to take out a loan, and has been struggling to pay fees for the past two years. Last year she was unable to meet full tuition expenses, and would most likely have been sent home this year if not for your scholarship. Actually—your contribution covers her fees until graduation and the balance left unpaid from last year as well.

I’ve taken another picture of Faith and have attached it to this email.

Thanks James,

Peter Vigneron