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Kiprotich wasn't pushed, comes up short of record

Wilson Kiprotich reached the 5K point at about 13:45, just about on pace to challenge the 8K world record of 22:03 at the Post Apartment Invitational, the featured race of the Borden Uptown Run & Trolley Walk, on Saturday, March 22, in Dallas.

However, after outrunning his elite competition, the Kenyan said there was no one pushing him around the second loop of the two-loop finish that's almost 3 1/2 kilometers, and he finished in 22:18. Kiprotich said he also was still a little tired from the half marathon he ran a week ago in Denmark, where he ran a 1:00:43 to finish fourth and the northerly breezes he faced when making the second loop didn't help.

In the women's elite race, Rose Kosgei, who is becoming quite well known in the area because of her successes, won in 26:20, which was a long way from the women's world mark of 24:28.

The elite men and women were not only vying for a $3,000 first-place payday, but also a $10,000 for the first to set world records. Kiprotich not only missed that mark, but he also was six seconds slower than the course record set two years ago by Sammy Kipketer. Both Kiprotich and Kosgei also earned an extra $1,000 for winning the primes, which were paid for the first men and women elites who were first around the first loop.

Race director Tom Short said a deeper field is needed to assure there are competitors pushing each other. There were only six elite men and six elite women in the Post Apartment Invitational.

The event, conducted in almost perfect running weather with temps in the low to mid 50s, also had the debut of the RunOn! Dallas Challenge, which featured many of the fastest runners who have competed in D-FW events the past year. Andrew Cook, track and coach at Flower Mound High School, won the men's race in 25:29. Some of the Challenge competitors had the option of waiting three minutes to run with the other Challenge competitors or with the elites. Cook, though he's been fighting bronchitis, opted to run with the elites.

Patricia Vargas, of Ennis, won the women's Challenge in 29:53.

In the 5K, Texas Tech runner David Boston, 20, won in 16:47. In the women's race, Kayla Kenoyer, 21, a student at the University of Arkansas but who is training with a coach and is not on the track or cross country team, won in 18:57. ``I'm training for the USA 20K Championships in September.'' She said her time was almost two minutes slower than she had wanted, but said ``I'm out of shape right now. I just started back up (training).'' She said her PR on the road is about 16:48.

Boston said his time was OK because he has been a little sick the past few days. He took the lead after about a 1/2-mile into the race and led the rest of the way.

In the elite race, Kiprotich said he wasn't expecting to break the record because there was no one to push him. Also, there was a gusty breeze from the north that he said was a factor on the double-loop finish. Even though he hit the 5K mark at 13:45, he said he tired on the next loop, still feeling the affects of the half marathon.``When I tried to push it, I can't make it,'' he said.

Kosgei, a member of the AmeriKenyan Running Club that trains in New Mexico, has won the 2006 Wellstone's White Rock Half Marathon in Dallas as well as the 2007 Lancaster Avenue Mile in Fort Worth and the DRC Half in Dallas. She came to win again, but said she had no expectations of setting a women's world record. She said the wind was a factor, but it was better than when she ran the DRC Half in November, which was not only windy but cold. ``I'm happy with my time,'' she said.

There also was a Elsie's Kids' K, Trolley Walk and the Special Olympics run. Special Olympics participants are spurred on by fans in the stands who rattle cow bells. The event benefits the Special Olympics

What the Challengers said

William Moore, a former White Rock Marathon winner (among his many achievements), enjoyed competing in the first RunOn! Dallas Challenge, echoing the sentiments of the participants, including another top masters runner, Ernesto Caballero, and the youngest competitor, 11-year-old Molly Tucker.

``It's a great way to bring in all of us locals together,'' Moore said. ``You know we're fairly tight by keeping (the times) in the top eight or however they did it (in D-FW events). And, there are usually a lot of races on weekends, and everyone gets kind of scattered, so this is a good way to bring them together and get good competition. And I like the criterium course, with the two loops, and having the grandstands here and having people call out your name. So, it was fun....taking off after the Kenyans together.'' Moore didn't opt to run with the Kenyans, though, and started three minutes behind them. ``We were pretending we were chasing them. We just weren't gaining on them. ''

Caballero said, ``It's a good thing to get to run with (the elites). It's an honor. There are few times in life that you can see these guys this close...and to run with them is a plus.''

Men's winner Andrew Cook said the Challenge let some of the locals who have been working hard get a ``little recognition. I thought it was nice for everybody.''

Cook, who took one of the spots available to run with the elites, said ``What the heck. I'll run with them and watch them from behind.''

However, Cook, who was an Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon, said he has run with Kenyans before. ``Sometimes, they will take off and will come back to you. But not today.''

He said his time was OK considering he has been taking antibiotics for bronchitis. ``I went to the doctor Wednesday and he said I have bronchitis, so I was debating on whether to even come to this race. So, time wise, I wasn't expecting a whole lot. I was just trying to go out and win...the local challenge.''

Cook added that he isn't sure the course is going to give up a world record. He said he ran a 24:40 at a 5-miler at The Woodlands on Thanksgiving, and said that was a flat course except for one little overpass. ``But this is a spectator friendly course,'' he said, noting that spectators have a chance of seeing the elites at the start, as they begin the first loop,when they pass in front of the grandstands for the final loop and then at the finish.

Molly Tucker, 11, chose to run with the elites because she wanted to post a fast time and believed chasing them would push her along. However, she said, ``I felt weird. I was actually a little nervous because they were going to beat me and I knew that.'' She finished in 34:37.