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News04 May 2001


Big 10K race at Stanford on Friday night

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Big 10K race at Stanford on Friday night
Ed Gordon for IAAF 

4 May 2001 - Mebrahtom Keflezighi. He’s hardly a household name in the world of athletics.  And the name is barely pronounceable at that. 

But for the 3000 cheering fans jammed into the tribune at Stanford University’s Cobb Track and Angell Field on Friday night, he was the hero of the moment.  

Mebrahtom didn’t even win his 10K race.  That honor went to the relatively unheralded 21-year-old Abraham Chebii of Kenya, whose 27:04.20 was his first track clocking under 28 minutes and was the fastest-ever 10K race on American soil, dipping under the 27:07.34 Haile Gebrselassie posted in capturing the Atlanta gold medal. 

What the Eritrea-born Keflezighi accomplished was even more important than winning in the eyes of US athletics:  He toppled a 15-year-old national record that many observers, perhaps with a bit of sarcasm, felt was destined never to be eclipsed.   

Mark Nenow’s 27:20.56 had come in a winning effort at the 1986 Van Damme Memorial.  That was supposed to be the catalyst for a distance running surge in the US.  But those expectations never materialized.   

At first following, and then mingling with as many as six Kenyans throughout the 25-lap race on the eve of his 26th birthday, Keflezighi came home fourth in 27:13.98.  The time was almost 40 seconds faster than his previous best (27:53.63), which came in the Sydney final last September, his most recent track race before Friday night’s breakthrough.    

Also finishing ahead of Keflezighi were Ben Maiyo (27:07.55) and Luke Kipkosgei (27:12.37), who had to change gears several times in the final curve to reclaim the third position he had momentarily lost on the backstretch to the fast-closing American. 

“US distance racing has really blossomed in the last three years,” Keflezighi proclaimed, “and I’m proud to be a part of that upswing.”   

With his next remarks already forming on his lips, he turned away from the reporters and quickly raced across the field from the impromptu interview area to acknowledge the accolades of the fans, who were still cheering loudly almost five minutes after the end of the race.

That was the cue for Meb’s mentor for the last seven years, retired UCLA head coach Bob Larson, to pick up the conversational thread his protégé had started.

“We always thought this kind of race was possible.  But it was not part of Meb’s training plan at this part of the season,” Larson noted. 

“He’s been doing mostly strength work and hasn’t really started working on any of his speed training.  I knew he was in great shape, but I wasn’t sure he was in racing shape.” 

Friday evening’s 10K race was the marquee event in the Cardinal Invitational, an open competition designed for athletes seeking qualifying marks for an array of championships later in the season.   

And the biggest poster boy for the event was Bob Kennedy, who himself was seeking the 10K national record as a signal that his return to competition was complete after an auto accident last year had kept him out of action.

Kennedy stayed among Kefleghizi and the Kenyan troupe for most of the first five kilometres.  But when Meb made a strong move in the seventh kilometre, Kennedy realized that he would not meet the goals he had set, and he dropped out. 

Temperatures in California’s San Francisco Bay Area had nearly reached 30C during the day, and even at the 21:15 starting time for the race, the thermometer still exceeded the 20C mark.  So, the runners had to contend with both a fast pace and the lingering heat on the track.   

The composite results of the race provided a feast for statisticians:   

---In addition to the points already mentioned, Chebii became the ninth-fastest performer of all-time in the event (and sixth among his countrymen) with the 16th-best clocking ever.
---There has never been a faster 10K race so early in a season in world athletics history.
---Several other runners got caught up in the torrid pace to break other records:  Toshinari Takaoka of Japan lowered the Asian record with his sixth-place 27:35.09, and Jeff Schiebler=s 27:36.01 in seventh place was a Canadian record.  And all of the first eight finishers established personal bests. 

10K RESULTS:  1. Chebii (KEN) 27:04.20 PB;  2. Maiyo (KEN) 27:07.55 PB;  3. L Kipkosgei (KEN) 27:12.37 PB;  4. Keflezighi (USA) 27:13.98 PB (NR);  5. Culpepper (USA) 27:33.93 PB;  6. Takaoka (JPN) 27:35.09 PB (AR);  7. Schiebler (CAN) 27:36.01 PB (NR);  8. Irifune (JPN) 27:53.92 PB;  9. Abdirahman (USA) 28:01.02 . . .

Photos courtsey of Ed Gordon and Don Gosney

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