Allan Kiprono, Kim Smith Win $100,000 at Inaugural BAA Distance Relay
By David Monti
October 7, 2012
(c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
BOSTON (07-Oct) -- With their convincing victories at today's 12th
B.A.A. Half-Marathon here, Allan Kiprono and Kim Smith locked up the
inaugural three-race B.A.A. Distance Medley title, collecting $100,000
each, the largest non-marathon prize in all of road running. Kiprono's
time of 1:01:44 was a course record, while Smith's mark of 1:10:57 was
just five seconds off of Caroline Rotich's event record from 2010.
Kiprono, 22, from Kaptagat, Kenya, made his intentions for victory known
early in the race. He had to run aggressively because he trailed
Distance Medley leaders Ali Abdosh and Sam Chelanga by 6 seconds. In
the mostly downhill first five kilometers (14:13), Kiprono pushed into
the led with a 4:25 third mile than an even faster 4:23 for the fourth.
"I wanted to see how the guys run," Kiprono said after the race. "I was testing the guys first."
By the 8-kilometer/5-mile mark (22:48), Kiprono had built a 12-second
lead on Chelanga, his nearest chaser. Chelanga, whose wife and
brother-in-law came to watch him run, soon ran into trouble with
abdominal cramps. He told reporters later that he had to stop at the
side of the road and vomit. Abdosh, the Ethiopian who was tied with
Chelanga for the Medley lead coming into the race, also has physical
problems and quickly went out of contention.
"It was very, very difficult," he told Race Results Weekly. "After 10 kilometers my back was hurting. It was very, very hard."
Kiprono got to the 10-K mark in 28:24 with a 16-second lead, but he began to get nervous. Had he gone out too fast?
"I passed 10-K and it was very fast," Kiprono recounted. "It was very hard for me."
With Abdosh and Chelanga struggling, Kiprono's Saucony teammate and
training partner Lani Rutto --who came into the race in fourth position
in the Medley standings-- had passed both men and moved into second
place. He appeared to be making up some ground on Kiprono, who
repeatedly looked behind him to see if he was holding his lead.
"I said, 'let me maintain this pace,'" he told reporters. "I saw the gap was still opening."
By 15-K (43:09), Rutto was 16 seconds back, and the gap was just too big
to overcome. Kiprono entered White Stadium in Franklin Park alone,
acknowledged the cheers of the small crowd, and broke the tape wearing a
big smile, $106,000 richer, including the $6,000 first place prize.
Rutto finished second in 1:01:55 and, like Kiprono, set a personal
best.
"God bless him," said Chelanga after finishing third in 1:03:22. "It was his day."
Abdosh ended up fourth and Irishman Alistair Cragg was fifth (1:04:10).
For Smith, 30, a New Zealander who lives in Providence, R.I., the break
for victory came much later in the race. She went into today's
competition with a 16-second lead in the Medley over Ethiopia's Aheza
Kiros, so her strategy was to keep Kiros in sight but not push the pace.
"We were going so slow at the start it was weird," said Smith, who finished 15 in the London Olympic Marathon.
Smith and Kiros ran together for the first half of the race, subtly testing each other, before the definitive break was made.
"We were both throwing in some surges after about halfway," Smith
recalled. "And then at about the 9-mile mark I threw in one last surge
and got away. I got a bit of a gap and just kept it going."
Smith hit the 15-K mark in 50:23, with a five-second lead on Kiros. As
each kilometer passed, Smith was widening her lead. Kiros soon
relented, and would finish nearly two minutes behind Smith in 1:12:50.
Smith, who got married on September 1, said that she was relieved that
the race was over, and that it didn't take too much out of her, a big
concern as she turns her attention to the ING New York City Marathon on
November 4.
As for the money, she said she planned to spend at least some of it on a trip after her marathon.
"I guess a honeymoon in Hawaii, maybe?" she said. "And some other things."
Results from BAA.org *Pre-Race: LRC Drama Galore Expected At Sunday's BAA Half Marathon - Who Will Walk Away With $100,000?
TOP MEN FINISHERS IN HALF MARATHON
OVERALL BIB NO. FIRST LAST CITY PACE GUNTIME
1 3 Allan Kiprono Kenya 4:43 1:01:44
2 4 Lani Rutto Kenya 4:44 1:01:55
3 2 Sam Chelanga Kenya 4:51 1:03:22
4 1 Ali Abdosh Ethiopia 4:53 1:03:51
5 6 Alistair Cragg Ireland 4:54 1:04:10
TOP WOMEN FINISHERS IN HALF MARATHON
OVERALL BIB NO. FIRST LAST CITY PACE GUNTIME
10 41 Kim Smith New Zealand 5:25 1:10:57
14 42 Aheza Kiros Ethiopia 5:34 1:12:50
17 46 Hellen Jemutai Kenya 5:37 1:13:35
31 45 Chemtai Rionotukei Lansing 5:59 1:18:11
38 48 Jennifer Gossels Sudbury 6:08 1:20:09
MENS MEDLEY FINAL LEADER BOARD
No. Name BIB # CTRY 5K 10K Subtotal Half Total
1 Kiprono, Allan 3 KEN 13:48 28:37 42:25 1:01:44 1:44:09
2 Rutto, Lani 4 KEN 13:46 28:40 42:26 1:01:55 1:44:21
3 Chelanga, Sam 2 KEN 13:43 28:38 42:21 1:03:22 1:45:43
4 Abdosh, Ali 1 ETH 14:00 28:21 42:21 1:03:51 1:46:12
5 Jenkins, Nate 5 USA 14:32 31:27 45:59 1:08:06 1:54:05
WOMENS MEDLEY FINAL LEADER BOARD
No. Name BIB # CTRY 5K 10K Subtotal Half Total
1 Smith, Kim 41 NZL 15:26 31:36 47:02 1:10:57 1:57:59
2 Kiros, Aheza 42 ETH 15:21 31:57 47:18 1:12:50 2:00:08
3 Bjune, Caroline 44 USA 18:00 37:04 55:04 1:20:47 2:15:51
4 Follmar, Alicia 870 USA 18:29 41:25 59:54 1:30:27 2:30:21
Tinega, Jelliah 43 KEN 16:00 32:17 48:17 DNS
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