KIMbia Athletics

Colorado residents James Carney and Elva Dryer will represent America at the 11th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, to be contested in Birmingham, UK on October 11th, 2009.  Carney was the national champion at the half-marathon distance in 2008, with Dryer winning her own title in 2007.  In fact, Dryer has shown a real aptitude for the distance, bringing a three-race winning streak — including a win in Austin this year — into the Championships.  Her PB is 1:11:40 and, in winning the national title in 2008, Carney set his lifetime best of 1:02:21.

The conclusion of the World Athletics Final means that the 2009 track and field season has come to a close for us.  We saw many terrific performances, as our thirteen athletes who hit the track turned in a total of fourteen personal best performances, and with KIMbia talents collecting six top-five finishes in the 5000m and 10,000m races at the US National Championships — including four spots on the American World Championship team.  In particular, we were proud to dominate the Men’s 5000m in Eugene, with five runners in the top nine, and to see OTC member Matt Tegenkamp join one of the most exclusive clubs in US distance running, by going under 13-minutes in the 5000m with his 12:58.56 clocking on a chilly night in Brussels.

If you have questions for any of the members of Team KIMbia about this 2009 season,  please send them to questions[AT]kimbia[DOT]net or post them in the comments below!  If you need a quick refresher on some of the performances from the season, check the athlete bio pages or our race recaps, below.  Make sure you get your questions in by the end of the day Tuesday, September 22! Read the full article

Battling a very competitive field in Atlanta on Saturday, Lineth Chepkurui, was able to score a huge win, a fast time, and a hefty paycheck at the Atlanta Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race.  The 21 year old Chepkurui kept a phenomenal 2009 going by edging out Ethiopia’s Meseret Mengsitu by just one second while also running a PB time of 31:31. She also collected $32,500 in race earnings after sharing a $35,000 bonus prize purse from the Professional Road Racing Organization with the men’s winner, Sammy Kitwara. Lineth became eligible for the purse by winning other PRRO road races earlier in the year. Lineth’s KIMbia mate, Elva Dryer, placed 18th overall and was 6th American in the women’s race.

With the win, Lineth has added one more reason for her to be considered the most feared young Kenyan on the road. Just this year she has won Peachtree, Cherry Blossom, Crescent City, and Bloomsday, a veritable “who’s who” of non-marathon American road races.

In the men’s race, Boaz Cheboiywo was an impressive 5th* 4th place in 28:05. James Carney ran 28:19 finishing 10th* 9th overall and was 3rd American in the Peachtree race, which served as the USATF 10k National Championship. Abdi Abdirahman won the US Championship in 28:11 and Anthony Famiglietti was 2nd in 28:15.

*Updated results after 4th place finisher, Tadese Tola was DQ’d for unsportsmanlike conduct after elbowing Boaz in the final 30 meters of the race.
Full Results for Peachtree here.

After this past weekend, we couldn’t be any prouder of the athletes with whom we have the pleasure of working.  There was a sweep of 5000m titles north of the Rio Grande (Simon Bairu and Matt Tegenkamp) and three additional US athletes with podium finishes and a national team berth (Chris Solinsky, Evan Jager and Tim Nelson).  But moreover, KIMbia athletes competed this weekend with verve and with guts, even if, in some cases, the end result was not a full reflection of their efforts. Read the full article

As many American track fans caught their breath on a weekend falling between college conference and regional championship weekends, and professional track meets on each coast, KIMbia athletes still found themselves plenty busy in competition at several excellent, if less widely-covered, events.

With many KIMbia athletes making their States-side homes in Boulder, it was fitting to have so many of them run before the hometown crowd.  Each year, following an all-comers citizens’ race, the pros take to Boulder’s streets in a race scored by national affiliation, and, this year Millicent Gathoni — the defending champion — and Jane Gayunki led the Kenyan team, finishing 5th and 8th, respectively. In the men’s competition, KIMbia was represented on Team Kenya, Team USA, Team Commonwealth, and Team Colorado, with John Yuda our first finisher, notching a 3rd-place finish for Team Commonwealth.  Boulder-resident James Carney followed Yuda and was the first American finisher in 4th place. Other Top 10 finishes came from Gilbert Okari (6th) and Charles Munyeki (7th), both competing for Kenya.  Locally-based Jason Hartmann took 12th as a member of Team Colorado, and Fasil Bizuneh would represent Team USA in 15th. Read the full article

The Nelly Train rolls on.  After pushing Olympians to the limit at the US Cross Country and 15k Championships earlier this year, Tim Nelson cut a huge swatch from his former 10k PB of 28:05, running a terrific 27:36.99 to earn an automatic World Championships Qualifying Standard and win the Kim McDonald 10k out at Stanford.  Fellow former Badger Simon Bairu took 2nd in 27:50.76 — just .05 slower than his PB — and James Carney was 5th in that same section, running 28:23.  On the women’s side, Rebecca Donaghue ran 33:08.97 to win the race and cut almost half a minute from her previous best on the track. Fitting to have two winners and two more Top-5 showings from KIMbia athletes in the 10k races bearing Kim McDonald’s name…

Pace in the top flight of the Men’s 5k sagged midrace, scuttling any hopes of achieving World Champs standards, but KIMbia athletes remained competitive.  Matt Tegenkamp and Olympian Alistair Cragg met the line in quick succession — with Teg 2-tenths behind, 2nd in the race and a 13:22 to his name.  Boaz Cheboiywo manged 7th in the same section, finishing in 13:30.  Evan Jager acquitted himself well in his professional debut at the distance, running 13:29.65 which was good for 2nd in the 2nd section.

Finally, in the Men’s 1500, Brent Vaughn was 5th in the 2nd section, clocking 3:43.89 — just 2-tenths shy of his PB — while Michelle Sikes continued a whirlwind tour of American competition with a 6th place finish in the 5000, hitting the line in 15:56.

Full results here; to see KIMbia-only results…. Read the full article

For the second time in just more than a month, Tim Nelson finished second at a national championship race with a thrilling last-minute sprint that almost netted him the win.

At February’s national cross country championships, Tim almost ran down a solo-running Meb Keflezighi. This morning, at the Gate River Run 15K in Jacksonville, Fla., Tim surged strongly in the last 400 meters and almost caught Anthony Famiglietti, who led from the 5K mark. Fam held on to win in 43:36, with Tim finishing 1 second back. Fasil Bizuneh was next across the line with another strong run, running 43:52 to hold off Olympian Dan Browne. James Carney rounded out a closely packed top 10 with a 44:13 run.

Elva Dryer continued her promising Boston Marathon prep with a 4th-place finish in 50:40.

Top 10 results are here.

Feeling emotionally and physically ready to conquer New York, I set out to tackle the course. The first 8 miles were just about spot on. I was executing exactly how I wanted. I was patient and didn’t surge when the leaders would surge and just kept at a 5:00 pace. Like a yo-yo, the leaders would take off and then come back to me, while I just ran a steady pace.

However, I could tell very early on things weren’t right. My calves felt very tight by 10 miles…not a good sign. I got to halfway in 66:37. I wanted to be about 65:30 at halfway, but considering you give up 45 seconds in the first mile because of the uphill mile, I was only mildly concerned. I concentrated and really put my head down and got my next mile split. It was 5:20 something…now i was worried.

I took another split from 16 to 17, which should be fast coming off the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan with enormous crowd support. I looked at my watch…5:17. At that point I knew I had overdone it in training and I was going to end up running 2:18 or so, after doing some quick math. I wasn’t really getting much slower, but I just didnt have the pop to run 5:00 anymore.

2:18 is just as bad as a DNF, in my opinion. I would rather cut my losses and, as they say in the business world, “fail hard fast” and live to fight another day. I’ve never been a big proponent of dropping out of races, as mentally it’s a way out and easy to do again, but the marathon might be the exception.

Overall…it was a very disappointing race. However, we trained like men who can run 2:10, and hopefully the accumulated training will take hold in the future. The New York Road Runners once again impressed with rock star treatment. I am grateful to have been part of such a world-class event.

We’ll have more details later, but the executive summary is that James and Boaz fell far short of meeting their goals at the New York City Marathon today. In his debut, Boaz was 19th in 2:21:40. James dropped out in the 21st mile after being in the top 20 upon entering Manhattan in the 17th mile.

James was among a group of five Americans who led the first couple of miles. When the rest of the field asserted themselves, James was still well in contention. He was 1:06:37 at halfway, compared to 1:06:06 for the leaders. But he began to slow dramatically after 25K, and dropped out after passing 20 miles in 1:45:24.

Boaz was with the leaders at halfway. Soon after, he and Abel Kirui tripped over each other. Boaz got up quickly, but had lost his rhythm. He continued to run well through 20, reached in 1:42:44, but then started to cramp badly and covered his last 10K in 38:56.

Lots of options for live following of the Boulder boys tomorrow morning.

Most personally, you can sign up to get e-mail updates on James and Boaz. You’ll get splits for every 5K, halfway and every mile from 16 to the finish. Info here.

Universal Sports is providing a free, live Webcast. Info here.

There will be live TV coverage in some areas of the U.S. on Universal Sports TV, and in the New York City area by the local NBC affiliate. There will be an afternoon recap on NBC nationwide. Info on all that here.

Runner’s World and Running Times are providing combined live coverage. That will occur here.