KIMbia Athletics

Simon Bairu and Shalane Flanagan notched victories in their final tune-ups before January’s Olympic qualifying attempts in Houston, each reaching the tape first at the Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon. Coming into the day under heavy training loads — a calculation intended by coach Jerry Schumacher to simulate running hard in the second half of January’s 26.2-mile efforts — Flanagan came in just below her prescribed goal, hitting 1:09:58, while Bairu clocked 1:05:38, just ahead of teammate Brent Vaughn and his 1:05:41. Tim Nelson took 3rd in 1:07:44.

Flanagan was fourth to the line, overall, beating all other entrants except for her male teammates. Her performance was just 81 seconds off of her personal best, set last year in Philadelphia.

With January’s Olympic Marathon Trials keeping most elite American distance runners off of fall marathon starting-lines, the New York Road Runners injected some domestic star-power into the New York City Marathon weekend with a new professional 5k road event. Called the Dash to the Finish, Britain’s Chris Thompson of the Oregon Track Club took home top honors, while Andrew Bumbalough placed fifth in 13:59, six seconds back. With a course that went past New York City landmarks throughout Midtown — including the crossroads of the world, Times Square — the event was approached by Bumbalough and teammates Matt Tegenkamp, Evan Jager and Lopez Lomong, as a fun way to check their fitness and stay excited about their running, as they continued the thankless job of packing in the miles, back home. Tegenkamp took 7th in 14:02 with Lomong 8th and Jager 10th.

Each of the athletes will be buckling down in off-season base-building mode for the coming months, with no immediate plans for indoor competitions on the books.

Despite a promising early season that saw four athletes qualify for the US team headed to Daegu, the 2011 World Championships ended up a somewhat lackluster affair for the members of KIMbia Athletics.

Beginning on a down note, Chris Solinsky and Delilah DiCrescenzo had to withdraw from the competition due to injuries — though Solinsky’s withdrawal opened the door for teammate Andrew Bumbalough to make the trip. Once there, Bumbalough drew the second of two heats for the 5000m, a race which featured three more competitors than the other heat and, eventually, a mid-race fall that seemed to unsettle the quick early pace. After things slowed dramatically in the fourth kilometer, Bumbi came home in 13:44, a time placing him 9th in the heat and just a few seconds outside of qualifying via time.

In the 10,000m, despite possessing the fitness that powered a 30:59 solo effort at the US Championships, and a 14:45 in Paris, Shalane Flanagan placed 7th in 31:25, while teammate Matt Tegenkamp took 10th on the Men’s side. If the performances were behind what we have seen from Flanagan and Tegenkamp in previous world-level championships (notably, Flanagan’s Olympic Bronze in 2008, and Tegenkamp’s 4th Place in the Osaka World Championship 5000m in 2007), the meet did mark Teg’s first tussle with the 10,000m distance at this level.

Moreover, Daegu also capped a year in which Bumbalough made both the cross country and the outdoor track World Championship teams for the first time as a senior athlete, after representing the US on the junior level in each discipline. Beyond that impressive achievement, the experience at Worlds will surely serve the young athlete well, having made breakthroughs on the track (14-second 5000m PB) and cross country (2nd at US Champs) this year.

Erin Donohue was not about to sit back and run everybody-else’s race. In the 1500m at London’s Diamond League meeting, New Jersey’s #1 Fan got right on the pacesetter from the gun and went after the fast time that her recent performances had suggested. The hot pace got to her, however — the first 400m was reached at 4:00 1500m pace —  and she finished in 4:09.68. Not only was that time still good for a very credible 6th, but there’s no doubt that she won many admirers on Saturday for refusing to let the rabbit go, as happens all too often in big mile races.

That same day, just across the pond, Allan Kiprono took fifth place in 28:10 at Beach to Beacon after sticking his nose in with the leaders from early on. Boaz Cheboiywo placed 14th, while James Koskei finished 15th — the first Masters runner by a whopping three minutes and five seconds.

Continuing an impressive international tour, Erin Donohue traveled to Belgium last weekend to race in the Flanders Cup Meet in Ghent, Belgium.  Donohue competed in the 800m, running a solid 2:02.40 to give her a 7th-place overall finish in the meet.  She was just one second behind the winner, NJNYTC teammate Latavia Thomas.

A week prior, the New Jersey-native ran a season-best 4:07.o4 1500m, giving her second place in the Joensuu Games in Finland.  Donohue’s competition featured a mix of elite athletes from the surrounding Nordic countries as well as several international athletes. Although four seconds off her personal best, the Olympian finished just one second behind first place, capping off her excellent week in Finland, which included a massive personal best for 3000m.

Next up, Erin will take to the track at Crystal Palace for the London Diamond League meeting, where she will run the 1500m and — if her continually progressing form is any indication — have a shot at her PB of 4:03.49.