KIMbia Athletics

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Top Ten KIMbia Moments of 2011 (plus Honorable Mentions)

There’s nothing better than surveying the previous fifty-two weeks of your life and realizing how fun and gratifying they were. Here’s a look back at just a handful of the memories we at KIMbia Athletics will take away from 2011. If you had your own memory from the year that included us or our athletes, please share it below!

10. Tim Nelson Steps Down and Beats Top-Flight 3000m Field in Seattle
Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? Nelly shocked American running fans when he dispatched middle-distance specialists German Fernandez, Alan Webb, and World Championship bronze-medalist-to-be Matt Centrowitz in a 3000m far below his comfort zone distances… and with a blistering kick, to boot.

9. Shalane Flanagan Featured on Sports Illustrated For Kids Trading Card
Fellow athletes in the set included NBA MVP Derrick Rose and soccer superstar Thierry Henry.

8. Chris Solinsky Impresses in US Outdoors 5000m with 8:10 Final 3200m
Solinsky ended up “only” runner-up to Bernard Lagat, but the Badger alum essentially made the race with his aggressive running, and gave Lagat all he could handle down the stretch.

7. Flanagan Destroys Nationals Field with Solo 10,000m Effort
So strong was her move to breakaway early, that everyone else seemed content to vie for second by somewhere around 3k.

6. Delilah DiCrescenzo Stars in Puma-Sponsored Web Series
Following in the tradition of chasingKIMBIA, The Madison Project, Wisconsin to Worlds, and Rookies Vs. the World, Delilah marked the sixth year in a row that KIMbia Athletics connected with running fans by self-producing an ambitious multimedia project.

5. Haron Keitany Wins Bowerman Mile at Prefontaine Classic with 2011 World Leader
Keitany’s 3:49.09 would prove the fastest Mile performance of 2011. With good showings in Hengelo and Oslo (2nd at both) and Zurich (3rd), The Land Cruiser would finish the year ranked 5th in the World for 1500m/Mile (All-Atletics.com).

4. Brent Vaughn Wins US Cross Country Championship
After a US Half-Marathon DNF, Vaughn was an 11th-hour entry into the US Cross Country Championships, where he finally validated his well-regarded talent by claiming his first national title in surprise fashion.

3. Flanagan, DiCrescenzo, and Erin Donohue Join KIMbia Athletics Team
Getting to work with even just one strong, smart, talented, driven, accomplished, and interesting woman such as these would be a reason-for-being for a company like KIMbia — never mind three.

2. Matt Tegenkamp Shocks the Internet with Entry in Stanford’s Kim McDonald 10,000m
His performance in Palo Alto put him 10th All-Time among Americans. His performance in the viral video sensation put him #1 in the hearts of many running fans (we assume).

1. Flanagan Wins Bronze at World Cross Country Championships
In the deepest distance race on the planet, Shalane became just the second American to win world-level medals in cross country and on the track.

HONORABLE MENTION