KIMbia Athletics

Who: 10,000m American & Canadian Record Holders Chris Solinsky and Simon Bairu
What: Live Chat with the fans
When: 1:30pm Eastern/10:30am Pacific

This is how it works: Type any question, comment, anecdote, or musing that you want Chris and/or Simon to hear in the box below, and they will respond live. It’s that simple. This is a forum for fans to interact with some of the world’s best runners in a way that is personal and fun and accessible to the people who really care about the athletes.

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KIMbia athletes did the memory of Kim McDonald proud on Saturday night, as Chris Solinsky and Simon Bairu smashed the American and Canadian national records, respectively, in the 10,000m race that bears McDonald’s name.

Last year, Tim Nelson won this race in a strong 27:39. In 2010, seven KIMbia athletes toed the starting line for the Kim McDonald 10,000m at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational, and this time, the results were outright astounding.  Chris Solinsky ran steadily in the lead pack for the duration of the race, before stepping around race leader Galen Rupp and making an explosive move with 900 meters to go. Solinsky covered the final two laps in under 2:00 to shock running fans the world over and stop the clock at 26:59.60 — a new American record by an eye-popping fourteen seconds.  Moments later, teammate Simon Bairu would complete his own impressive run, logging a 27:23.63 to set a new Canadian national record. Bairu’s time peeled 12.38 seconds off of the previous record.

Oh, and Tim Nelson? He ran 27:31.56 — an terrific eight-second PB. But this year, on an historic night, it would “only” place him seventh. Clearly, the legacy of Kim McDonald lives on in the performances of the athletes running under the “KIMbia” banner and in the ever-improving performances of athletes around the world. Following Nelson in were Brent Vaughn, making his professional debut at this distance (13th, 28:05), Boaz Cheboiywo (14th, 28:06), and Jason Hartmann (19th, 28:25). Full results can be found here, and a video of the race is at the bottom of the page.

We will have much more on Solinsky and Bairu’s record-breaking races as we move into the week.

In the deepest distance race on the planet, Simon Bairu represented Canada, Nike OTC, and KIMbia impressively by taking 13th place at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, held in Bydgoszcz, Poland on Sunday. The 12k race consisted of six 2k loops, and Bairu established himself early, tucking into 19th place, just three seconds behind the leaders, as the field completed the first lap.  From there he would continue to pick off runners.

Staying close to race favorites Paul Tanui and Joseph Ebuya of Kenya, Ethiopia’s Gebregziabher Gebremariam, and Moses Kipsiro of Uganda, Simon remained just seconds back from the lead pack, even as the racing heated up on the 4th circuit, working himself up as high as 13th and just five seconds outside of the Top 5. Read the full article

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

The domestic professional season kicks off this Sunday with the American southwest serving as ground zero.  The US Half Marathon Championships will run through the streets of Houston and feature a handful of KIMbia athletes, while the Rock and Roll Arizona Half Marathon goes off in Phoenix, with Simon Bairu taking on American Record Holder Ryan Hall.

There is plenty to be watching and a couple of Running Times pieces have gone inside the KIMbia stories that will be playing out this weekend. Chief among them? The half marathon debuts of Tim Nelson and Brent Vaughn. Vaughn expressed his confidence as he looks ahead with a new coach and new training approach:

“I’m training harder. I’m doing a lot more general strength stuff. My coach now is Jay Johnson. I think he’s a great coach. One of his strengths is knowing how hard I can push once the running is done.”

The full interview can be found here.  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

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

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

Boaz Cheboiywo put another notch on his road racing belt Saturday by snagging the runner up spot and $5,000 in prize money at the Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. This result, on the heels of a 4th place finish at the Peachtree 10k a month ago, serves as evidence of Boaz’ emergence as one of the most prominent runners on the U.S. Road Racing Circuit this summer.

Boaz was with the lead group of five runners until the 8k when the eventual winner, Ed Muge, pulled away. Despite the strong move from Muge, Boaz tried to battle back in the last mile but Muge was able to hold him off for the win in 28:04 with Boaz four seconds back finishing second in 28:08.

Also from KIMbia, Gilbert Okari finished fourth in 28:21, Simon Bairu, in his first race in his build up to the NYC Marathon, was 7th in 28:44, and James Koskei finished 14th in 30:00.

In the women’s race, KIMbia’s own Rebecca Donaghue was fifth place in 32:46. An impressive 22 second personal best for Rebecca in her first race since coming back from a European campaign that saw her post two other PB’s in the 1500m and 5000m.

Full Results and Prize Money information for the Beach to Beacon can be found here.

After this past weekend, we couldn’t be any prouder of the athletes with whom we have the pleasure of working.  There was a sweep of 5000m titles north of the Rio Grande (Simon Bairu and Matt Tegenkamp) and three additional US athletes with podium finishes and a national team berth (Chris Solinsky, Evan Jager and Tim Nelson).  But moreover, KIMbia athletes competed this weekend with verve and with guts, even if, in some cases, the end result was not a full reflection of their efforts. Read the full article