KIMbia Athletics

Boaz Cheboiywo put another notch on his road racing belt Saturday by snagging the runner up spot and $5,000 in prize money at the Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. This result, on the heels of a 4th place finish at the Peachtree 10k a month ago, serves as evidence of Boaz’ emergence as one of the most prominent runners on the U.S. Road Racing Circuit this summer.

Boaz was with the lead group of five runners until the 8k when the eventual winner, Ed Muge, pulled away. Despite the strong move from Muge, Boaz tried to battle back in the last mile but Muge was able to hold him off for the win in 28:04 with Boaz four seconds back finishing second in 28:08.

Also from KIMbia, Gilbert Okari finished fourth in 28:21, Simon Bairu, in his first race in his build up to the NYC Marathon, was 7th in 28:44, and James Koskei finished 14th in 30:00.

In the women’s race, KIMbia’s own Rebecca Donaghue was fifth place in 32:46. An impressive 22 second personal best for Rebecca in her first race since coming back from a European campaign that saw her post two other PB’s in the 1500m and 5000m.

Full Results and Prize Money information for the Beach to Beacon can be found here.

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.

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

Lineth Chepkurui continued her winning ways on Sunday, taking the title at the Bloomsday 12K in Spokane, Washington. The race just happens to be the largest timed running event in the world. Lineth pulled away from the pack, which included Olympic medalist Catherine Ndereba, on the toughest part of the course, Doomsday Hill. She increased her lead in the remaining miles to win in 39:47, 25 seconds ahead of Ndereba. Four weeks ago, Lineth won the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington, D.C.

KIMbia had two former Bloomsday champions in the men’s race. John Korir finished third in 34:17, behind Micah Kogo (33:51) and Ridouane Harroufi (34:14). Our other former champion, Gilbert Okari, returned to action by placing 12th in 35:11. John Yuda was 6th in 34:39, and Luke Kipkosgei was 15th in 35:49.

Results