Posted: June 12, 2005

Athletics: Kiplagat Wins Circle of Friends Mini 10K on Hot Day

Jim Gerweck, Running USA wire

NEW YORK - (June 11, 2005) - It was an all-too-typical Mini Marathon day in the Big Apple - hazy, hot and humid, even before the 9am start. But neither the weather nor the other competitors proved much of an impediment to Lornah Kiplagat, who simply ran away and hid from the huge field at the Circle of Friends Mini 10K, turning the 34th edition of this first women's-only event into little more than a steamy time trial around Central Park.

"The weather was hot today, but there was a runner who was even hotter," said Mary Wittenberg, CEO of the organizing New York Road Runners.

Indeed, Kiplagat, 31, is athletically on fire, burning up the roads this year: Saturday's win was her sixth in six starts including a Rotterdam Marathon win.

This one was never in doubt after the first hundred meters or so, when Kiplagat opened a gap of 50 meters on the rest of the field.

"I was a little surprised to be by myself so early," she said. "But I knew I was running within myself, and the others were just being conservative, so I wasn't worried."

Kiplagat clicked off opening miles of 4:48 and 4:59, then slowed to 5:02 en route to a halfway split of 15:25. By that point her closest pursuers were more than half a minute behind, and she basically throttled back into cruise control, enjoying the crowds and sights of a lower loop of the park.

"If I had gone through halfway in 15:06 or so I would have tried to push for the course record (30:29 by Asmae Leghzaoui, in 2002)," recounted the two-time Los Angeles Marathon champion who earned $11,000 for the win.

It no doubt would have given Kiplagat some extra satisfaction to eclipse that mark; last week, she withdrew from the Freihofer's Run for Women 5K in upstate Albany to protest the invited status of Leghzaoui, who tested positive for EPO in March 2003 and was suspended for two years.

Kiplagat's final time of 31:44 - a record 23rd sub-32 minute road clocking - was more than half a minute slower than her 2003 clocking, and equaled the time turned in by American Deena Kastor last year, when the event was limited to only-American elites.

Well behind and out of sight of Kiplagat, Benita Johnson and Jelena Prokopcuka were battling the elements and each other.

"It was good to have someone to run with and help push the pace," said the latter who found another gear and pulled away from Johnson at the six mile mark en route to a six second margin. The pair will have a chance at a rematch over this distance on the track at the World Championships in Helsinki this August.

"This shows me where I'm at," said Johnson, the 2004 World Cross Country champion. "There's a lot of work to be done, but time is on my side."

Tegla Loroupe, who has won the Mini a record-tying five times, most recently in 2000, was a strong fourth after competing in a track 5000 in the Czech Republic Thursday, then flying to New York for this race. Colleen De Reuck was the first American finisher and first master, placing ninth in 33:43.

Some 4,700 women registered for this year's race (3,598 finished), as well as an additional 300 or so in the inaugural 2.6 mile co-ed Friends Walk, which Wittenberg said was designed to provide a less daunting invitation to running and hopefully induce some of the participants to take on the full 10K in the future.

"The 10K will always be the spotlight race of this event," she noted, and as long as runners like Kiplagat keep showing up, the spotlight, as well as the hot sunlight, will continue to shine on the Mini.

34th Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K - New York, NY, Saturday, June 11, 2005

1) Lornah Kiplagat, Netherlands, 31:44, $11,000
2) Jelena Prokopcuka, Latvia, 32:18, $6000
3) Benita Johnson, Australia, 32:24, $4000
4) Tegla Loroupe, Kenya, 32:52, $3000
5) Yuri Kano, Japan, 33:05, $2000
6) Hilda Kibet, Kenya, 33:16, $1000
7) Masako Chiba, Japan, 33:22, $850
8) Margaret Okayo, Kenya, 33:32, $750
9) Colleen De Reuck, 41, USA/CO, 33:43, $600
10) Dulce Rodriguez, Mexico, 33:48, $500
11) Marie Davenport, Ireland, 33:50, $400
12) Leah Malot, Kenya, 34:10, $300
13) Jenny Crain, USA/WI, 34:14, $250
14) Irvette Van Blerk, South Africa, 35:06, $200
15) Silvia Skvortsova, Russia, 35:21, $150

Complete results at: NYRR.org

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
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