Running: Kenyan takes Race Weekend's 10K top prize, but not record

Monday, May 26, 2008 - 05:34 PM

The question is: Will John Halvorsen have to wait 20 more years before his record in the 10-kilometre event of the Ottawa Race Weekend is broken?

In 1988, Halvorsen, now race director for the weekend, ran the 10K course in a time of 28 minutes 12 seconds. With a strong field assembled for the race Saturday night, including Abderrahime Bouramdane of Morocco, who finished second last month in the Boston Marathon, there was a good chance a new standard would be set.

A windy evening, though, meant the quickest man to cross the finish line was Kenya's Julius Kiptoo in 28:37. Kenyans took the top five spots, with Samuel Ndereba in second, 16.9 seconds behind Kiptoo.

"I'm somewhat disappointed," Kiptoo said about not breaking Halvorsen's record. "I was the fastest man so I'm happy about that, but at the same time, I'm disappointed I didn't get the course record. I'm going to train very hard and come here again. All the people here were so jovial and the spectators were fantastic."

The top Canadian was Eric Gillis of Guelph, Ont., who placed seventh in 29:33.5

A lot of hype was made of the fact the record is now 20 years old. Halvorsen thinks it could fall any year.

"There will be just as good a chance next year," he said. "I guess we'll keep talking about it until it does get broken and it will happen at some point with the calibre of runners we're bringing in. The course is fast and the runners should be able to do it, but depending on the day and the way the guys set out to do it will dictate exactly the result."

Kiptoo says runners will need to be smart of they want to break the mark.

"The course was windy, especially when we came toward the finish. You need a lot of strong guys to work as a team to go for the record. Individuals cannot make it," Kiptoo said, adding that he and his Kenyan teammates ran together until just before the 8K mark.

Emebet Bacha of Ethiopia was the top woman with a time of 32:42.1. The women began their race exactly 4:05 ahead of the men, but Kiptoo overtook Bacha right at the finish line, breaking the tape 0.15 seconds ahead of her to claim $5,000 in the Gender Challenge.

Kiptoo took home a total of $10,000 while Bacha collected $5,000.

"I was trying to catch her and I knew I had to push it. In the last minute, I thought I could catch her and I did," said Kiptoo, who wasn't thinking about the money.

"My point was to run my best, I wasn't worried about the money. I was trying for the course record."

Dorota Gruca of Poland was the second woman to finish the race and she was four seconds back of Bacha. Kenyans took the next six spots and Canadian Kathy Tremblay of Pierrefonds, Que., was ninth, a little more than two minutes off the pace.

In the 5K race, Kyle Desormeaux and Ian Donald, both of Ottawa, finished first and second with respective times of 15:30.1 and 15:39.

Winnipeg's Georgette Mink placed first on the women's side in 17:48.6. Lindsay Anderson was second, 42 seconds back, while fellow Ottawan Brenna Casey was two seconds behind her.

The full and half marathons are this morning, as well as the wheelchair marathon, kids' marathon and family 2K.