KIMbia Athletics

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!

Jason Hartmann delivered what could well be the breakout marathon performance of his career, winning the Twin Cities Marathon in a massive PB of 2:12:09 on Sunday.  Hartmann took the victory with a margin of almost one minute, as a trio of Kenyans, led by Augustus Mbusya in 2:13:03, took places two, three, and four. Although Hartmann’s potential in the marathon had been suggested by his 10th Place showing in the 2007 Olympic Marathon Trials — a 2:15:27 clocking on a hilly course — Sunday’s race marks his first major road win, and makes him the 4th-fastest American of 2009, behind only Olympians Keflezighi, Hall, and Ritzenhein.  In the past three years, only those men, and Olympian Brian Sell have run faster.

Full results can be found here.  Check back at the end of this week for a Q&A with Jason!

Colorado residents James Carney and Elva Dryer will represent America at the 11th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, to be contested in Birmingham, UK on October 11th, 2009.  Carney was the national champion at the half-marathon distance in 2008, with Dryer winning her own title in 2007.  In fact, Dryer has shown a real aptitude for the distance, bringing a three-race winning streak — including a win in Austin this year — into the Championships.  Her PB is 1:11:40 and, in winning the national title in 2008, Carney set his lifetime best of 1:02:21.

The newest member of the American sub-13:00 club took home the 2009 Men’s US 5k Road Championship, held as part of the CVS Downtown 5k this weekend, in Providenc, RI. Using his patented kick, Matt Tegenkamp won in 13:57, defeating two of America’s fastest in Bolota Asmeron and Anthony Famiglietti.  After trying to blister the field last year — only to lose a homestretch battle with Famiglietti –this time around, Tegenkamp sat on the controlled early pace that kept much of the field in contention through the initial miles.  On the course’s most significant hill in the final-third of the race, Tegenkamp positioned himself to kick, then blasted home to claim a 5k road title to pair with his 5000m national title from the track, won back in June in Eugene, OR. Read the full article