Kiprono, Daska Win BolderBOULDER 10K 2012

BolderBoulder 2012 Top3 Women

BOULDER, Colo. – May 28, 2012 – When Deena Kastor crossed the finish line in third place at Monday’s 34th Dick’s Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10K, she took a few steps and a couple of deep breaths, then turned and hugged teammate Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, who had finished a few seconds and one place ahead.

“Excuse me,” Kastor said to fans waiting to talk to the popular three-time Bolder Boulder champ, “I am waiting for Magda.”

That would be Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, the third member of Team USA. Standing hip-to-hip at the 50-yard line finish in Folsom Field on the University of Colorado campus, Cherobon-Bawcom and Kastor anxiously peered down the football field finishing chute, watching the runners coming in, counting the places and waiting for Lewy-Boulet.

On a beautiful Boulder day – 67 degrees, clear skies and a slight breeze, Ethiopia, led by a wire-to-wire win by Mamitu Daska in 33 minutes, 7 seconds – her third Bolder victory – dominated the 15th International Team Challenge race, with 1-5-6 finish. When Kenya’s third runner, Evelyn Lagat, finished in 16th, Lewy-Boulet was just entering the Folsom Field end zone. However, despite what she described as a “rough race”, Lewy-Boulet ended up 20th, high enough to propel Team USA into second and a share of the $33,333 team purse.

“Deena was my idol when I was in college,” said Cherobon-Bawcom, 33, who is poised to make a strong bid for an Olympic 10,000 meter spot in next month’s Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. Like Kastor and Lewy-Boulet, Cherobon-Bawcom will race the 10,000 at the Trials; she has the “A” qualifier; has been tearing up the roads this year, and has the support of her husband, Jay, and her coach, the legendary Jack Daniels.

Cherobon-Bawcom ran a smart race on Monday, keying off of Kastor. The two let Daska go through an opening mile of 5:04, coming through in 5:11. A surge by Japan’s Kayoko Fukushi strung out the chase pack a mile later. Buoyed by shouts of “Go USA!”, Kastor, 39, moved into second, joined at 4½ miles by Cherobon-Bawcom. The two ran shoulder-to-shoulder until mile 5, when Cherobon-Bawcom pulled away from Kastor, and the dynamic duo clocked 33:24 and 33:29 respectively.

“It is an honor to compete in Boulder for Team USA on Memorial Day,” said Kastor, the 2004 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist. “I am not a sit-and-kick runner; I like it to burn; and it did.”

The men’s race was a slow burn, with young Kenyan and part-time Boulder resident Allan Kiprono content to feel out the field in the early going. But he quickly went off the front in the second mile, running in unchallenged for his third big win of the year, along with the Cherry Blossom 10 miler and the Lilac Bloomsday 12K.

“Dieter (Hogen) told me it was my day today,” explained Kiprono, 21, who along with his Hogen-coached Kimbia teammates is spending three months training in Boulder. “I am happy to break the Ethiopian streak [of men’s individual champions].”

A 2-3-5 finish gave Ethiopia men their sixth consecutive team title, followed by Kenya, Mexico (two teams from Mexico actually showed up to race), and then the U.S., paced by Aaron Braun also in fourth (30:12), just 17 seconds behind Kiprono.

“I learned a lot from last year,” said Braun, 10th in his 2010 Bolder debut and 12th in 2011, when he ran aggressively in going out with the Kenyans and Ethiopians. “Today was a good test of my patience.”

Kiprono’s winning time of 29:55 was the second slowest in race history, which did not matter to him at all. “I won and beat the Ethiopians,” he said, in explaining what mattered to him this Memorial Day, not long after the moving flyover and Bolder Boulder tribute to the nation’s military in the middle of the football field among 50,000 cheering fans and finishers.

Photo Credit: Tim Bergsten

34th Dick’s Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10K: 15th International Team Challenge
Boulder, CO, Monday, May 28, 2012

MEN
1) Allan Kiprono (KEN), 29:55, $3250
2) Tadese Tola (ETH), 30:04, $2000
3) Birhanu Gedefa (ETH), 30:08, $1500
4) Aaron Braun (USA / AZ), 30:12, $2250*
5) Demessew Tsega (ETH), 30:35, $800
6) Kenyon Neuman (Team Colorado), 30:37, $1400*
7) John Korir (KEN), 30:43, $600
8) Alejandro Suarez (MEX), 30:46, $500
9) Leon Lopez Constantino (PER), 30:48, $400
10) Juan Carlos Romero (MEX), 30:52, $300

OTHER U.S.
13) Chris Barnicle (USA / NM), 31:14
16) Jeremy Freed (Team Colorado), 31:34
17) Patrick Rizzo (Team Colorado), 31:40
19) Scott Smith (USA / AZ), 32:05
*includes U.S. Olympic training funds

MEN’S TEAM
1) Ethiopia, 10 points, $15,000
2) Kenya, 22, $10,000
3) Mexico, 33, $7000
4) USA, 36, $13,500*
5) Team Colorado, 39, $13,500*
6) Peru, 41
7) Australia/Oceania, 56
8) Canada, 69
9) Guatemala, 72
*includes U.S. Olympic training funds

WOMEN
1) Mamitu Daska (ETH), 33:07, $4000
2) Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (USA / GA), 33:24, $6250*
3) Deena Kastor (USA / CA), 33:29, $4500*
4) Kayoko Fukushi (JPN), 33:33, $1500
5) Ashu Kasim (ETH), 34:04, $800
6) Alemitu Abera (ETH), 34:18, $700
7) Marisol Romero (MEX), 34:26, $600
8) Genoveva Kigen (KEN), 34:44, $500
9) Adrianna Nelson (Team Colorado), 34:56, $800*
10) Benita Willis (AUS), 34:59, $300

OTHER U.S.
20) Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (USA / CA), 36:07
21) Wendy Thomas (Team Colorado), 36:15
Sara Slattery (hamstring), DNF
*includes U.S. Olympic training funds

WOMEN’S TEAM
1) Ethiopia, 12 points, $15,000
2) USA, 24, $33,333*
3) Kenya, 35, $7000
4) Peru, 47, $6000
5) Mexico, 47, $4000
6) Japan, 50
7) Australia, 52
8) Canada, 63
9) Columbia, 67
10) Great Britain, 68
Team Colorado, DNF
*includes U.S. Olympic training funds