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…
**All KIMbia athletes in bold.
Men
1. John Yuda — 34:36
2. Robert Letting — 34:45
3. Karim Elmabchour — 34:54
4. Gilbert Okari — 35:06
5. Dan Browne — 35:07
6. Tesfaye Bekele — 35:09
7. Philemon Terer — 35:13
8. Silas Sang — 35:19
9. Daniel Kipkoech — 35:36
10. Seth Pilkington — 35:37
11. Samuel Ndereba — 35:42
12. Forest Braden — 35:45
13. Bret Schoolmeester — 35:49
14. Charles Munyeki — 35:58
15. Josh Eberly — 36:00
Women
1. Lineth Chepkurui — 38:37
2. Teyba Erkesso — 39:17
3. Genoveva Kigen — 39:30
4. Rose Kosgei — 39:47
5. Hyvon Ngetich — 39:50
6. Lilia Shobukhova — 39:51
7. Dulce Rodriguez — 40:01
8. Belainesh Gebre — 40:02
9. Jane Kibii — 40:11
10. Sally Meyerhoff –40:15
11. Ogla Kimaiyo — 40:19
12. Teyba Naser — 40:21
13. Mariya Konovalova — 40:46
14. Millicent Gathoni — 40:53
15. Diane Nukuri — 41:01
I think Mo Farah will beat the 45:15 record this year; you just wait and see, that guy is in form! To give you guys the heads up; the Great South Run will be on the 23rd October for the 2011 race so put that date in your diaries.
Mo is as hot as any runner in the world right now. I, for one, would have loved to see what he could have done at World Cross. I’m not sure Top 5 would have been out of reach, given his current form.
The professional field for Bloomsday goes up April 26th … who would you like to see entered?