KIMbia Athletics

Perhaps appropriately, KIMbia’s Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky finished just three-tenths of a second apart under the shadow of the New York City skyline Saturday afternoon, in the last race of the 2009 season.  Back in June, the two training partners stormed to a one-two finish at the US Championship 5k in Eugene and, just like Saturday, the two finished just three-tenths of a second apart.  The 5k in Eugene launched two of the most successful summers of racing the KIMbia group and American distance running have ever seen. The 5th Avenue mile on Saturday was the perfect bookend for those great seasons.

 Matt and Chris finished 7th and 8th respectively in 3:54.20 and 3:54.51.  The race started on E. 80th St. in Manhattan and ran straight down Fifth Ave. to the finish on E. 60th St.  Matt had a brief glimpse of the lead 1200 meters into the race, but the 5000m specialist was not able to match the kick in a field of almost exclusively milers. 

Both runners have a brief vacation from racing to look forward to.  Chris will be using that time to plan for his wedding coming up in the next few months.  Full results of the 5th Ave. Mile after the jump. Read the full article

Across the Atlantic Ocean, there is a vast expanse of majestic landscape, there are bustling city streets, windmills, breathtaking works of art, there’s even something called ”tea time”, BUT MOST ESPECIALLY there is a group of American based KIMbia athletes on the European track circuit. The front half of most of these athlete’s time in Europe is over while some are just getting started. We will be checking in with the athletes to get a full report on how their summer is going. They will be grading themselves on how well they have raced so far and how well their training has been going this season. They’ll also be detailing some of their time off the track to give an idea of what life is like for them on the European circuit.

2009 has been very good to Rebecca Donaghue.  Earlier in the season, Rebecca lowered her PR considerably in the 10k, clocking a 33:08 to win the prestigious Payton Jordan Invite in Stanford.  She rolled into the U.S. Championships shooting for nothing less than a top three finish and a spot on the World Championship team in the 5k.  After leading through a considerably windy second mile and into the third in the 5k finals, Rebecca finished fifth, just three seconds short of third place.  Still, with Kara Goucher forfeiting her 5k spot for the marathon, the third World Championship slot was still in the cards for Rebecca if she could dip under the ‘B’ standard (15:25) over the next few weeks.  And so, Rebecca headed to Europe.

Despite missing the standard, Rebecca made strides in her first European season by posting two more PR’s in the 5000m (15:34 in Liege) and 1500m (4:12.07 in Ghent).  Clearly, the European circuit has treated Rebecca Donaghue well.  Click below to read how Rebecca graded her season and how she describes her first “business trip” to Europe.

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Last Wednesday night, @SimonBairu’s twitter feed read: “8 National titles in Cross Country/Road Racing and 0 on the track-hopefully I end the curse tomorrow in the 5k!”  It took until about 4k into the race, but Bairu was able to capture that elusive track title at the Canadian Athletics Championships in Toronto on Thursday.

Simon initially wanted to go after the World Championships ‘A’ standard in the race to qualify for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin later this summer, but the humidity made that all but impossible.  Battling with Canadian Olympic team member, Eric Gillis, for the first half of the race, Simon pulled away over the last three laps and finished in 13:39, with a comforatble lead over the second place Gillis, who came home in 13:49.

With Matt Tegenkamp capturing the USATF 5k title last Friday, Simon’s 5k Championship makes KIMbia athletes 2 for 2 in the event in North American countries that are north of Mexico, a feat heretofore unheard of for a single agency. (This fact is unconfirmed. But probably true.)

Simon plans to forgo a trip to Europe in hopes of chasing the ‘A’ standard. Instead, he will stay in Portland to concentrate on making his marathon debut this fall.

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.

My most memorable running experience of 2008 would have to be the Cardinal Invitational when I raced against Lagat, Songok, Boaz, and Abdi. It was my best race of the season and sort of a breakthrough performance for me individually.

My first big goal for 2009 is to qualify for the world championships in cross country. I would like to compete well at the USA championship and be near the lead the last 2K.

My main goal for 2009 is to get the “A” standard in the 10,000m and compete in Berlin at the world championships. I would also like to better my 5K PR, hopefully under 13:10.

Lineth cruised to a convincing win at Saturday’s Athletics Kenya cross country meet in Nyahururu. Running at more than 7,000 feet of altitude, Lineth showed she’s well on the road to recovery from injury with a 25:48 win on the 8K course. Her closest competitor, Joice Wanjiku, was 44 seconds back.

Lineth’s next big races are the Armed Forces championships and the national meet. Her performances in those races will help determine whether she runs in March’s world championships in Amman, Jordan.

More details and results are here.

Most memorable running experience of 2008: The Olympics; pretty obvious why! Believe it or not; I still have not seen the first two hours of the opening ceremonies!

First big goal for 2009: Get the 5,000m “A” standard for this year’s World Championships in Berlin. Yes, I screwed up last year and did not get the time out of the way. Last year was considered by most to be a successful year because of making the Olympic team, but when I look back I see many issues from 2008 that will be addressed in 2009.

Main goal for 2009: Represent Team USA in the 5,000 at the World Champs in Berlin. Prep for this started right after the Olympics with a different focus in training, and it has been going great. It is going to be an exciting year, and I’ll be ready to kick it off sometime in February with a few indoor races.

While Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky and Tim Nelson gear up to answer your questions via video, here’s a first round of queries with Matt done old school, pen to paper. (Well, fingers to iPhone.) Keep your questions for the trio coming in the comment section below. For now…

How soon into your first run at 8,000 feet did you get hit with the feeling that something was different?
First off, Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet, and we are to scared to go any higher at this moment. We will be experiencing our first taste of 8,000 on the long run this Sunday on the famed waterline route. Overall, though, we adjusted just fine, which is great since this is our first time at altitude.

Are you training with any of the many other runners there in Flagstaff?
We meet with other Flagstaff locals on the Thursday bagel run, including Martin Fagan and Andrew Lemoncello. It is a good run and nice to visit with others. However, I think we got in trouble last week because we (I) ran too hard. Hopefully they won’t mind next week. I promise to run easier!!

Now that you’ve been there awhile, are you starting to feel different while running?
If you mean, are runs getting any easier, I would say no, we are still breathing heavy and hills suck. I don’t think that will change while we are up here.

Other than the altitude, how, if at all, does that differ from what you were doing at the same time last year?
In the past we did not visit the track during base-building period. That is different this year, and I am very happy about it. The reason that we did not use the track much in the past was due to the Madison winters, which would put us indoors, and the body can only handle so much of that. The reason that I still like using the track during base building is because we spend eight months out of the year trying to sharpen up on the track, and by the end of the season you have taken training to a new level. Then, in the past, we left the track for four months, and it felt like you had to start all over the next season. Now we get to build off of our previous track season.

Which of you, Chris and Tim seem least affected by the altitude?
It’s hard to say because we are all doing different milage. Tim is doing the most by a lot, and I am doing the least, so I would say I feel the least worn down. But I really think we all adjusted to the altitude very well. We are looking forward to seeing the benefits.

Have you run into Jack Daniels yet?
We did run into him one morning, and it was the first time we officially introduced ourselves. He was looking out for us, making sure we had everything we needed and gave us some pointers (as well has a few a few stories). He has a great thing going in Flagstaff and we want to thank him for helping us out during our stay.

With being away from home during base training, what else do you do all day?
Not a lot, we our kind of treating it like training camp. However, Solinsky and I came prepared; he brought his PS3 and I brought the Wii. That helps kill the time. We have had visitors. An old teammate, Tim Keller, came up, and my wife did another weekend. Both will be back for Thanksgiving. We have been downtown a few times and have spent hours in the grocery store. (I take forever but save a lot of money finding deals.) We are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon next weekend, which will be a great experience. I am sure we will get down to Sedona as well. The time is actually going by pretty fast.

Stephen Kiogora–better known as Baba to marathon fans–ran a fantastic personal best of 2:08:24 at this morning’s Frankfurt Marathon. Baba finished third, and was part of the three-man lead pack that splintered at about 35K once winner Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot broke away.

In his debut, Cheruiyot (no relation to the World Marathons Major champ) ran 2:07:21. Baba was close behind Wilson Kigen, who ran 2:08:16. (Kigen’s brother Wilfred had won in Frankfurt the previous three years.) Unfortunately, Baba took a nasty fall as he was entering the arena where the indoor finish at Frankfurt occurs.

Ben Maiyo was seventh in a solid 2:09:58. Julius Koskei (James’ brother) was one place back with a nice debut of 2:10:14.

1. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (KEN) 2:07:21
2. Wilson Kigen (KEN) 2:08:16
3. Stephen Kiogora (KEN) 2:08:24
4. Philemon Kirwa Tarbei (KEN) 2:08:47
5. Benson Barus (KEN) 2:08:57
6. Japhet Kosgei (KEN) 2:09:24
7. Benjamin Maiyo (KEN) 2:09:58
8. Julius Kibet Koskei (KEN) 2:10:14
9. Vincent Kipsos (KEN) 2:10:23
10. William Kiplagat (KEN) 2:10:53

Matt Tegenkamp hit a high note in the penultimate race of his outdoor track season by winning the 3,000m at today’s meet in Zagreb, Croatia. Matt ran 7:40.90 to win the sprint over Kenyans Vincent Chepkok and Mike Kigen.

Chris Solinsky was seventh in 7:44.53. He and Matt will end their seasons with the 3,000m on Saturday at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany.

Results