KIMbia Athletics

In the altitude of Albuquerque, Chris Solinsky took third place in the 3000m at the USATF Indoor Championships.  With a championship on the line, the early work was tactical and much of the field remained in contention until late, Solinsky included.

In the end, the finishing speed of double World Champion Bernard Lagat was too much to match and Lagat took home the title in 8:12.60.  Solinsky would cross the line barely a second arears, in 8:13.85, fellow Portlander Galen Rupp just four-tenths in front of him in second position.

The third-place finish both began and ended Solinsky’s indoor season, and he will return to his preparations for outdoor.

With a wedding to plan and a marriage to start, it’s been a busy winter for Chris Solinsky — to the point where it might be forgiven if he started 2010 showing a little rust.  Yet a new house, wife, and home life seem to be agreeing with the Stevens Point native, as he ran 3:55.75 at the UW Invitational in Seattle, on Saturday.  Opening the season indoors, Solinsky defeated Galen Rupp by a little less than half a second.

His 3:55.75 is a facility record at one of the fastest tracks in the world; a PB of over a second, indoors or out; his first time under 4:00 indoors; and is just .11 seconds off the current world leader.

In a match-up pitting Canada’s best distance runner against the fastest American half-marathoner in history, KIMbia’s Simon Bairu came home the victor, winning the Rock and Roll Arizona Half Marathon over Olympian Ryan Hall. Bairu’s 1:02:47 not only won the day, but also took nearly of two-minutes off of the course record. Running just his second half-marathon, Bairu used the 11th mile to put 26 seconds between himself and Hall, and only lengthened his lead to the tape. With high hopes for his next race — the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Poland — Bairu certainly seems on the right track.

Meanwhile, a hop, a skip, and a very long jump away in eastern Texas, the USATF Half Marathon National Championships brought together a deep domestic field.  Houston has a history of auspicious, break-out races — from Hall’s own AR, to KIMbia’s Jim Carney winning the National Championship in his debut in 2008 — and Tim Nelson and Brent Vaughn looked to add their own chapter to that story as each took his first swing at the 13.1-mile distance. Read the full article

Canada might observe Thanksgiving in early October, but while Simon Bairu’s American OTC compatriots were celebrating Thanksgiving back in Portland this weekend, the Canadian had every reason to be thankful as well, after traveling to Guelph, Ontario and collecting yet another National Title. Bairu tallied his seventh national cross country title, and did so in dominating fashion, besting Eric Gillis (28:07 10k PB) by over one minute. With a winning time of 28:49, Bairu laid claimed to the course record and, though unconfirmed officially, there was speculation that the time was a meet record, as well.  Not unexpectedly, the Regina native was ebullient in describing his feelings:

The performance is a testament to just how well I have responded to the increase in work that I’ve been putting in. Things are definitely starting to get exciting!

The win qualified him for March’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Poland, and having put good training volume in the books right up to the Canadian championships, Bairu is looking for big things in his 5th appearance at Worlds.

Two days prior, Boaz Cheboiywo took to the roads, placing 10th in the 73rd annual Manchester Road Race, held on Thanksgiving Day. Running 22:08 for roughly 4.75 miles, Cheboiywo was in the thick of things late, where a bang-bang finish saw seven competitors finish within a 9-second span.  Manchester is one of the older races in the country, and, despite being contended on a major holiday, it routinely attracts a very deep domestic field each year.

photo courtesy Dave McNamee

KIMbia’s Sean Quigley returned to his high school stomping grounds on Sunday and was able to score a familiar result.  Quigley, a Massachusetts native, won the 20th annual Mayor’s Cup 8k Cross Country Championship over a strong field in Boston’s Franklin Park, the same place he won a state championship as a senior at Archbishop Williams High in 2002.  Quigley clocked a 23:54 to edge out second place Jacob Korir by one second.  Third place Andrew Ledwith was close behind in 23:57.

Racing in a lead group of five early on in the race, Quigley and Korir seperated themselves on the final loop of the 8k course.  Despite not leading once the whole race as the duo approached the finish line, Quigley laid down a perfectly timed sprint finish to gain a decisive one second lead as he broke the tape.

Perhaps the biggest win of 24 year old Sean Quigley’s young career, the Mayor’s Cup 8k is by far the most prestigious all-comers cross country race in the nation.  For his effort, Quigley earned a total of $900 in prize money between being the overall winner and top American finisher.

Full results for the Mayor’s Cup can be found here.

Eight years is a pretty good lifespan for a parakeet, a computer, and a winning streak. In defending his 10k National Title on the roads of Toronto, Simon Bairu remained undefeated in Canadian Road or Cross Country National Championships since 2001. Contended in conjunction with the Oasis ZooRun, Bairu won in a largely solo effort, clocking 29:48 to miss the course record by just seven seconds. Read the full article

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!

Jason Hartmann delivered what could well be the breakout marathon performance of his career, winning the Twin Cities Marathon in a massive PB of 2:12:09 on Sunday.  Hartmann took the victory with a margin of almost one minute, as a trio of Kenyans, led by Augustus Mbusya in 2:13:03, took places two, three, and four. Although Hartmann’s potential in the marathon had been suggested by his 10th Place showing in the 2007 Olympic Marathon Trials — a 2:15:27 clocking on a hilly course — Sunday’s race marks his first major road win, and makes him the 4th-fastest American of 2009, behind only Olympians Keflezighi, Hall, and Ritzenhein.  In the past three years, only those men, and Olympian Brian Sell have run faster.

Full results can be found here.  Check back at the end of this week for a Q&A with Jason!

The newest member of the American sub-13:00 club took home the 2009 Men’s US 5k Road Championship, held as part of the CVS Downtown 5k this weekend, in Providenc, RI. Using his patented kick, Matt Tegenkamp won in 13:57, defeating two of America’s fastest in Bolota Asmeron and Anthony Famiglietti.  After trying to blister the field last year — only to lose a homestretch battle with Famiglietti –this time around, Tegenkamp sat on the controlled early pace that kept much of the field in contention through the initial miles.  On the course’s most significant hill in the final-third of the race, Tegenkamp positioned himself to kick, then blasted home to claim a 5k road title to pair with his 5000m national title from the track, won back in June in Eugene, OR. Read the full article

The conclusion of the World Athletics Final means that the 2009 track and field season has come to a close for us.  We saw many terrific performances, as our thirteen athletes who hit the track turned in a total of fourteen personal best performances, and with KIMbia talents collecting six top-five finishes in the 5000m and 10,000m races at the US National Championships — including four spots on the American World Championship team.  In particular, we were proud to dominate the Men’s 5000m in Eugene, with five runners in the top nine, and to see OTC member Matt Tegenkamp join one of the most exclusive clubs in US distance running, by going under 13-minutes in the 5000m with his 12:58.56 clocking on a chilly night in Brussels.

If you have questions for any of the members of Team KIMbia about this 2009 season,  please send them to questions[AT]kimbia[DOT]net or post them in the comments below!  If you need a quick refresher on some of the performances from the season, check the athlete bio pages or our race recaps, below.  Make sure you get your questions in by the end of the day Tuesday, September 22! Read the full article