Posted: July 9, 2006

Athletics: Rongo & Wami Win Boilermaker 15-K

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Sammy Rongo and Gete Wami won today's 29th running of the Utica Boilermaker, a 15 km road race held in Upstate New York, part of the Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO) series of events.

Rongo, a 34-year-old Kenyan, ran a personal best 43:16 to beat runner-up Wilson Kiprotich, also of Kenya, by 14 seconds, in pleasantly warm, but somewhat humid, conditions. William Chebon Chebor finished third in 43:39, completing the Kenyan sweep of the podium. It was Rongo's first-ever win in the United States, and it marked the 8th year in a row that a Kenyan man had won the Boilermaker. Athletes from Africa took the top 13 places in the men's race, and the top American was Mike Morgan of Rochester Hills, Mich., who clocked 45:49 in 14th place.

Wami, the three-time Olympic medalist, ran 49:31 and became the first Ethiopian --male of female-- to win the Boilermaker. She finished just two seconds ahead of Susan Chepkemei of Kenya; Jemima Jelegat, also of Kenya, finished third in 49:39. The top American was Melissa White of Sterling Heights, Mich., who finished seventh in 51:48.

The event records of 42:40 by Joseph Kimani set in 1996 and 48:06 by Catherine Ndereba in 2001 were never threatened. The winners each received $5,000.

Top Finishers:

MEN - 
 1. Sammy Rongo, Kenya, 43:16
 2. Wilson Kiprotich, Kenya, 43:30
 3. William Chebon Chebor, Kenya, 43:39
 4. Nephat Kinyanjui, Kenya, 44:24
 5. Karim El Mabchour, Morocco, 44:51
 6. Jacob Yator, Kenya, 44:52
 7. D. Girma Tefera, Ethiopia, 44:54
 8. Simon Njoroge, Kenya, 45:06
 9. Benson Cheruiyot, Kenya, 45:07
10. Wilson Komen, Kenya, 45:09

WOMEN - 
 1. Gete Wami, Ethiopia, 49:31
 2. Susan Chepkemei, Kenya, 49:33
 3. Jemima Jelegat, Kenya, 49:39
 4. Natalya Berkut, Ukraine, 49:53
 5. Lidia Simon, Romania, 50:57
 6. Lyubov Denisova, Russia, 51:25
 7. Melissa White, USA, 51:48
 8. Mihaela Botezan, Romania, 52:38
 9. Zoila Gomez, USA, 52:42
10. Maggie Chan-Roper, HKG, 52:50

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