KIMbia Athletics

Select shots featuring KIMbia athletes racing in the 2009 Chicago Marathon. Race recap here.

Though young and with nary a marathon to his name, KIMbia’s Charles Munyeki showed no hesitation to mix it up with the world’s finest in Sunday’s Chicago Marathon.  At the halfway point, the lead pack consisted of Vincent Kipruto (PB 2:05:47) Sammy Wanjiru (PB 2:05:10 and possessor of the marathon Gold from the Beijing Olympics) and Munyeki.  The pace was just a handful of seconds away from World Record pace, at 62:00.

Yet Munyeki didn’t flinch until 35k, when the pre-race favorite Wanjiru broke things open.  In his debut at the distance, Munyeki would come home in 2:07:06, having held on for 4th, as standout Abderrahim Goumri made a late charge from 4th all the way into 2nd.  Ben Maiyo, 2nd here in 2005, took 11th with 2:16:38, after attempting the very tough early pace.

Check back Tuesday for a full gallery of photos from the race!

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

Capping off a fantastic weekend for KIMbia, John Yuda and Lineth Chepkurui captured the men’s and women’s titles in the Lilac Bloomsday Run Sunday morning.  This year was the 33rd running of the historic 12k Bloomsday Race, through the streets of Spokane, Washington.

This is the first major road championship for Yuda since his win in the 2005 BUPA Great South Run.  Yuda had appeared very fit in training and, after finishing 7th in his last major race — the Dong-A marathon back in October 2008 — Sunday’s result is an extremely positive sign validating his return to form. Unofficially, his winning time was 34:36.

For Chepkurui, on the other hand, Sunday was another fantastic result in what has already been an amazing 2009.  This was her second straight Bloomsday title after winning in Spokane last year.  Already in 2009, Lineth has won the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, finished 4th in the IAAF World Cross Country Championship, and most recently, won the Crescent City Classic 10k in early April. Her unofficial time of 38:35 — as reported by the Spokane Spokesman-Review — would be just 4 seconds shy of the course record.

Initial report from The Spokesman-Review here. 
Full results here.
To see all KIMbia results… Read the full article

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.

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.

Charles Munyeki ran one of, if not the best race of his young career on Sunday at the Rotterdam Half Marathon. Finishing fifth in a deep field, Charles ran 59:44 to record a massive improvement on his half marathon PR.

The race was won by half marathon ace Patrick Makay Musyoki, who outsprinted Evans Cheruiyot. Both were given a time of 59:22.

A women’s victory and the top three spots on the men’s side of yesterday’s Bellin Run highlighted the last spring appearances of many of our road racers. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Millicent Gathoni notched another dominating win, taking the Bellin Run 10K in 32:51, more than 2 minutes ahead of 2007 Chicago Marathon runner-up Adriana Pirtea. On the men’s side, John Yuda and John Korir both recorded times of 28:47, with Yuda getting the nod for the victory. Charles Munyeki completed the KIMbia sweep by placing third in 29:20.

At the Steamboat Classic in Peoria, Illinois yesterday, Luke Kipkosgei finished his spring season in fine form, running 18:18 for the 4-mile race to finish second, just one second behind Ridouane Harroufi. Richard Kiplagat took fourth in the strong field by running 18:20. Elva Dryer took fifth in 20:44, and Jane Gakunyi was one place and 2 seconds behind Elva.

Johns Yuda and Korir, Luke, Charles, Millicent and Jane will return home later this week. Some of them, as well as KIMbia stalwarts like Gilbert Okari, will return later in the summer for the height of the U.S. road season.

Bellin Run 10 results | Steamboat Classic 4-mile results

Millicent Gathoni kept the women’s Bolder Boulder title in the KIMbia family for another year, taking the Memorial Day 10K in 32:49. She battled Ethiopia’s Amane Gobena for most of the race before pulling away for a 4-second victory. Her victory also helped Millicent lead the Kenyan women to a second-place finish in the international team competition behind a strong Romanian contingent. Returning to action after last month’s Olympic Marathon Trials, Elva Dryer ran 34:39 and was the second American behind Deena Kastor.

Running as part of the British Commonwealth team, John Yuda placed fourth in 28:48, one place and 9 seconds ahead of John Korir, who was the top finisher on the Kenyan men’s squad. Charles Munyeki was eighth in 29:12. Ethiopia won the men’s team title, followed by Kenya and the Commonwealth.

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