Posted: April 1, 2007

Athletics (RRW): Kogo Smokes Parelloop 10-K In Near World Record

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Micah Kogo, the Kenyan who ran a world leading 26:35.63 for 10,000m at Brussels last September at age 20, smoked the flat course at the Parelloop 10-K today in Brunssum, Netherlands, recording the third-fastest certified 10-K ever on the roads: 27:07. On record-standard courses (no net elevation loss and start/finish separation less than 5 km) his mark is second all-time only to the IAAF-ratified record of 27:02 set by Haile Gebrselassie at Doha in 2002. "I felt strong today but the wind in the last kilometer was too much," said Kogo in a statement released by his manager, Ricky Simms, of PACE Sports Management in Teddington, England. "I knew I was inside 27:00 mins pace at 9 km but I lost seven seconds in the final km with a 2:49 split." By one measure, Kogo is the pending world record holder. The independent Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) rejected Gebrselassie's mark because he drafted too closely to a large vehicle for at least part of the race in Doha. The ARRS-ratifed record is 27:18 by Sammy Kipketer, also set in Brunssum, in 2001. (Kipketer also ran 27:11 at the Crescent City Classic in New Orleans in 2002 on a flat, point-to-point course). Joseph Kimani ran a faster time, 27:04, at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta in 1996, but that course is aided, losing 3.4 meters/kilometer (the allowable limit for record setting is 1m/km). According to Simms, Kogo ran even splits of 2:42 per kilometer before slowing slightly in the final kilometer. He won the race by nearly a minute and a half. Hilda Kibet, a Kenyan living in the Netherlands and a cousin of Lornah Kiplagat, won the women's race in 32:24. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest