Posted: May 2, 2004

Athletics: Records fall like rain at Sporting Life 10K

TORONTO. 2 May 2004 - Today's Sporting Life 10K, presented by New Balance, saw course records broken in both the men's and women's races. Conditions were perfect for running--if not for spectating--with light rain and temperatures around 9 celcius. More than 6,000 competitors charged down Toronto's Yonge Street -- Canada's longest--and the many PRs recorded enhanced the course's reputation as "Canada's Fastest 10K".

Kenya's Reuben Chebii led the charge, flying down to the Finish line next to the SkyDome and CN Tower in a new course record of 27:48, smashing Peter Ntabo's previous mark [set last year] by 14 seconds.

Toronto's Lioudmilla Kortchaguina, also had a fine run to set a new women's mark of 32:08--six seconds faster than Edna Kiplagat's record performance from 2001.

Adding to the record-setting day was Kingston's Steve Boyd, who set a new Canadian 10K masters standard on the roads of 29:33.

Chebii bided his time, hanging in with a pack of 6 runners, led by Montreal's Mustapha Bennacer, that passed the mile in 4:10, and halfway in 13:52. Shortly after 5K, countryman Anthony Gitau threw in a quality surge that reduced the pack to 4. Chebii then took charge around 8K, and hammered the last kilometre to set one of the top 10K times on the North American roads so far this year.

After Chebii broke clear, it was left to Joseph Ndiritu and Bennacer to fight over the runner-up position. Nderitu won the "rubber-match" between the two -- Bennacer defeated the Kenyan in March at the Around the Bay 30K, while Nderitu finished ahead of Bennacer in the second race in the Canada Running Series, the 21Kmtl in Montreal, in April.

Gitau would eventually finish fourth, with Toronto's Danny Kassap finishing fifth ahead of Joseph Kamau.

Kortchaguina's win was equally impressive, considering the fact that one week ago she won the inaugral Salt Lake City Marathon with a stellar 2:30 clocking (at 4,500 feet altitude).

Kortchaguina bested Burlington, Ontario's Tara Quinn and Toronto's defending champion, Nicole Stevenson. Quinn ran 32:35 while Stevenson was just two seconds off the time that won her the race last year -- her 32:58 today was the third time in three years she has run sub-33 at the Sporting Life race. Behind her was Kingston's Paula Wiltse and Toronto's Diane Nukuri.

Alison Wiley, one of Canada's premier distance runners through the 1980s, made a return to competition (after becoming a mom a few times over) and won the women's masters competition with a 36:19 performance here today. She finished just nine seconds ahead of Montreal's Diane Legare.

With 6,000 runners competing, and almost $100,000raised for Camp Oochigeas, a camp for kids with cancer, two more records were set on the day -- and everyone went home with a smile, despite the soggy conditions..

Complete results and photos at www.canadarunningseries.com/sportinglife.

MEN:
1. Reuben Chebii   Kenya   27:48
2. Joseph Ndiritu    Kenya   28:08
3. Mustapha Bennacer   Montreal  28:14
4. Anthony Gitau    Kenya   28:49
5. Danny Kassap   Toronto  28:51

WOMEN:

1. Lioudmila Kortchaguina  Toronto  32:08
2. Tara Quinn          Burlington        32:35
3. Nicole Stevenson  Toronto           32:56
4. Paula Wiltse     Kingston             33:38
5. Diane Nukuri     Toronto               33:47