Chico State's Scott Bauhs of Danville, Calif., was victorious in his first professional road race yesterday, turning back all challengers of a very competitive field at the Synaptics Elite Athlete 5-K in San Jose, Calif., contested on a four-lap criterium course.
Bauhs, 22, covered the 5 km course in 13 minutes and 37 seconds, the fastest time by an American for 5 km on the road this year, and only three seconds slower than Ethiopian Terefe Maregu Zewdie's world leading time of 13:34 set in Carlsbad last April. Bauhs, whose time equalled Ridouane Harroufi's 2007 course record, defeated Kenyan Jacob Korir by one second, while Korir's compatriot, Josphat Boit, finished third in 13:41.
Eleven men broke 14 minutes, the most of any 5-K in the world this year.
In the women's race, the versatile Rose Kosgei of Kenya defended her title in 16 minutes dead, two seconds up on New York-based Ethiopian Aziza Aliyu. Zemedkun Gebre Belainesh of Ethiopia was third in 16:05. The top American was former Stanford star Teresa McWalters, who finished fifth in 16:12.
Forty-nine year-old Carmen Troncoso of Austin, Texas, logged an impressive age-group performance, clocking 17:27 at age 49.
Participation in the Synaptics Elite Athlete 5-K was by invitation, but the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10 km and 5 km races were held before-hand, recording 6286 finishers, nearly double the total recorded last year.
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