This weekend, the world’s best distance runners will gather in Punta Umbia, Spain to contest the 39th IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Did you know that KIMbia athletes have collected NINETEEN Top 5 finishes at World Cross? Paul Koech leads the way with an impressive four, including a silver medal in 1998 that might have been gold, had the unbeatable Paul Tergat not been in the field.  (Koech also finished sixth on two occasions.)

Individual medalists include Sammy Kipketer (silver, 2000 4k), Luke Kipkosgei (silver, 2002 4k), Daniel Komen (silver, 1998 4k), and John Yuda (silver, 2002 12k). Additionally, Top-10 finishes have come from Elana Meyer (6th in 1994 and 1995) and Elva Dryer (8th in 2002 4k).

A list of Top-10 finishes by KIMbia athletes is below. 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

KIMbia’s youngest American athlete, Evan Jager, continued a strong early season of competition Saturday with a personal best of 3:40.60 in the 1500.  Jager finished 8th  in a strong international field that included three Olympians at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, CA.  Following his 13:29 5000m PR of a few weeks ago in Stanford, Jager has started his 2009 campaign brilliantly. 

After spending a year at the University of Wisconsin in 2007-’08, Jager decided to forego his college eligibility last year and turn professional, following his coach, Jerry Schumacher, to Portland.  He currently resides in Portland as part of the Oregon Track Club.

 In road racing news, Lineth Chepkurui narrowly missed out on her fourth huge road race win of the year and John Yuda finished third in an impressive field at the infamous Bay to Breakers 12k in San Francisco, CA.  Chepkurui finished second in 38:35, losing to Teyba Erkesso of Kenya by just 6 seconds.  Lineth defeated third place American and Olympic Bronze Medallist Deena Kastor by 29 seconds.

On the opposite coast, KIMbia’s Boaz Cheboiywo finished third clocking a time of 28:31 at the New York Road Runners Healthy Kidney 10k in Central Park.  Tadese Tola, the Healthy Kidney champion, smashed the Central Park 10k course record in 27:48.

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

At yesterday’s Dong-A Ilbo Gyeongju Marathon in Gyeongju, Korea, Charles Kibiwott placed third in 2:10:06. (Charles was second in last year’s race.)

Tom Ratcliffe was on hand and files this report:

“I’m not sure if if made a difference, but Charles was leading with 1K to go and followed the press truck straight when the course, and the two guys with him, took a sharp right. He was suddenly 20 meters behind and, although he closed the gap, they surged just as he got back to the lead with about 600 meters remaining and he was gone. John Yuda was with the group of 5 until 35K, but ended up 7th in 2:11:55.”

TOP TEN

1. Sylvester Kimeli Teimet, KEN 2:09:53 PB
2. Yirefu Birhanu, ETH 2:09:56
3. Charles Kibiwott, KEN 2:10:06
4. Samson Barmao, KEN 2:10:22
5. Edwin Komen, KEN 2:11:12
6. Shadrack Kiplagat, KEN 2:11:13
7. John Yuda, TAN 2:11:52
8. Lee Myoung-Ke, KOR 2:16:22
9. Mikhail Khobotov, RUS 2:17:39
10. Min Ji-Hong, KOR 2:18:36