Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Busy Weekend: Bolder Boulder, LA Marathon, Kenyan Armed Forces

yudaAs 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

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Munyeki Edges Okari at BAA Half Marathon

Charles Munyeki at the 2008 San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.Charles Munyeki eked out a 2-second win over Gilbert Okari in this morning’s BAA Half Marathon in Boston. Charles ran 1:02:46 to claim his first victory at a major American road race. One week after winning the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, Gilbert ran 1:02:48.

Charles and Gilbert finished almost a minute ahead of third-place finisher Karim Elmabchour of Morocco. In fourth place was 39-years-young James Koskei. James ran 1:04:48.

Jane Gakunyi ran 25 seconds faster than last weekend in San Jose to place fourth in 1:12:32.

All four of today’s half marathoners will now return home to Kenya to rest, recover and recoup for the spring road race season.

Boston results are here.

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Sunday, October 5, 2008

Gilbert Okari Rocks and Rolls in San Jose

Gilbert triumphs in San Jose.Gilbert handled with aplomb a high-class field at this morning’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in San Jose, Calif. He ran 1:01:46 to top Moroccan road ace Ridouane Harroufi, who won several major U.S. races in the spring, by 11 seconds.

Gilbert was joined in San Jose by several KIMbia teammates. Charles Munyeki continued his recent strong running with a fifth-place finish in 1:02:15. The seemingly ageless James Koskei was eighth in 1:03:02. In the women’s race, Jane Gakunyi was fifth in 1:12:57, and Kathy Butler took seventh in 1:14:52.

Gilbert and Munyeki will go the (half) distance again next Sunday at the BAA Half Marathon in Boston.

San Jose results are available here.

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

KIMbia Out in Force on East Coast

Jane Gakunyi at the 2008 Beach to Beacon 10K.A brief but busy day on East Coast roads for KIMbia on this last Sunday of summer.

First up, the CVS 5K in Providence, Rhode Island. In his road 5K debut, Matt Tegenkamp went through the mile in 4:23 with road veteran Luke Kipkosgei right with him. Matt gained a slight edge by the two-mile mark, but fellow U.S. Olympian Anthony Famiglietti, who was familiar with the course from having raced it before, reeled Matt back in, then surged away for the win on the race’s one major hill in the last half mile. Fam ran 13:41, with Matt second in 13:49 and Luke third in 13:57.

Jane Gakunyi took third in the women’s race in 15:51 behind Olympic bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan (15:28) and Ireland’s Mary Cullen (15:45).

A few hours later, Chris Solinsky tore down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue with a bunch of miler specialists, and placed fifth in 3:54.1. Olympic bronze medalist Nick Willis (3:50.5) edged out Bernard Lagat to win by a tenth of a second.

Providence results | NYC results

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Friday, August 29, 2008

It’s Confirmed: There’s Life After the Olympics!

Elva Dryer at Beach to Beacon (Photo by Victah Sailer)Lots of KIMbia folks in action over what for non-professional American runners is a holiday weekend.

First up, on Sunday Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky race 3,000m in Gateshead, England. You can watch the meet live online here, starting at 9:55 a.m. Eastern time.

On Monday, Elva Dryer, James Carney and Fasil Bizuneh will contend for the national 20K title in New Haven, Conn. Elva and James were second in last year’s race. Running Times will have live coverage here.

The same day, (much) further south, Jane Gakunyi, Richard Kiplagat and Luke Kipkosgei will race half as far at the U.S. 10K Classic in Atlanta, Ga. Luke and Richard were second and fourth, respectively, in last year’s race.

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