KIMbia Athletics

While Bolder Boulder race organizers could celebrate a record number of finishers in the annual 10k Memorial Day race, Brent Vaughn and James Carney stood out from the crowd in the elite race, placing 4th and 7th, respectively. Both athletes represented Team Colorado in the three-person team race, and with Vaughn finishing in 29:56 behind a trio of world-class Ethiopian athletes, Team Colorado took 2nd in team competition, beating trios from Kenya, Australia, and even the United States at-large. In the fourteen previous years of International Challenge competition at Bolder Boulder, no representative of Team Colorado had placed higher than 11th. As each crossed the finish line before a hometown crowd, the Boulder-area-based Vaughn and Carney became the first and second Team Colorado competitors ever to notch Top 10 finishes in a race that has routinely hosted Olympic medalists, World Record holders, and some of the best road runners in the world. Another Boulder-based athlete, Jason Hartmann, represented KIMbia and Team USA in 12th place, clocking a 30:35. In the women’s race, Jelliah Tenega placed 4th in 33:57, scoring for the runner-up team from Kenya.

[ Full Results ]

Anyone looking to make a splash in America might want to take notes from John Kemboi.

With a string of top performances on the roads this spring, Kemboi has marked himself as one of Kenya’s most dangerous young talents, ringing up victories at Chicago’s Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle and the Azalea Trail Run, and placing second at the prestigious Crescent City Classic.  Making his first trip across the Atlantic to gain valuable experience, Kemboi has done that — and more. Read the full article

Once again, Tim Nelson stepped away from the track and collected a runner-up finish at a USATF Championship, placing 2nd at the Gate River Run 15k in 43:52.  Nelson laid off the hot early pace set by eventual race winner Mo Trafeh, who hit one-mile in 4:22, allowing Nelson to cross the line four seconds before recent USATF Half Marathon champion Antonio Vega, who placed third. Also running a credible race, Boston-native Sean Quigley came 5th in 44:05, while Jason Hartmann finished 13th.

In the women’s race, Rebecca Donaghue took 4th place, ahead of Olympians Blake Russell and Lindsay Anderson. Donaghue completed the 15k in 51:13.

Full results can be found here.

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

Fasil Bizuneh popped his marathon PB in New York at the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2007 — that despite a go-for-broke approach in which he raced aggressively and went after a spot on the Olympic Team.  Now the Arizona State grad returns to New York to take a crack at the traditional NYC course and a very, very tough field, albeit with what he calls a “more measured approach.”  He took some time to answer a couple of pre-race questions and preview NYC.

Your marathon PB came in New York at the Olympic Trials in 2007. Although 13th place may not have been exactly what you were hoping for, you stuck your nose in that race for as long as possible and raced commendably.  How will that NYC experience affect or inform your approach to Sunday?

One of the issues that affected me at the Olympic Trials race in 2007 was and injury that I was dealing with the four weeks leading up to the race.  Fortunately my training for this year’s NYC Marathon has gone off without a hitch and I am excited for my prospects on Sunday.  With the Olympic Trials, I had an all or nothing mentality. If I couldn’t be in the Top 3, then it really didn’t matter what place I got.  For Sunday’s race, I will use a much more measured approach.  Therefore, I should cross into Manhattan at 20 miles with plenty of run left in my legs. Read the full article

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

Select shots featuring KIMbia athletes racing in the 2009 Chicago Marathon. Race recap here.

Though young and with nary a marathon to his name, KIMbia’s Charles Munyeki showed no hesitation to mix it up with the world’s finest in Sunday’s Chicago Marathon.  At the halfway point, the lead pack consisted of Vincent Kipruto (PB 2:05:47) Sammy Wanjiru (PB 2:05:10 and possessor of the marathon Gold from the Beijing Olympics) and Munyeki.  The pace was just a handful of seconds away from World Record pace, at 62:00.

Yet Munyeki didn’t flinch until 35k, when the pre-race favorite Wanjiru broke things open.  In his debut at the distance, Munyeki would come home in 2:07:06, having held on for 4th, as standout Abderrahim Goumri made a late charge from 4th all the way into 2nd.  Ben Maiyo, 2nd here in 2005, took 11th with 2:16:38, after attempting the very tough early pace.

Check back Tuesday for a full gallery of photos from the race!