Meseret Defar celebrates her Carlsbad victory (© Victah Sailer)
Olympic 5000m track gold medallist Meseret Defar of Ethiopia will be making her fifth appearance in the Carlsbad 5000, the annual 5km road race which celebrates its 22nd edition on Sunday 1 April.
Last year, Defar shattered the unofficial women's World 5km road best at the Carlsbad 5000 on Sunday (9), winning in a time of 14:46.**
After her Carlsbad triumph last year she went on to set the World record outdoors on the track for the 5000m with a time of 14:24.53. Therefore Defar’s form on the roads this Sunday will be closely scrutinized as to what it might suggest for the coming track season in this World Championship year.
"I am coming back to the Carlsbad 5000 to break my record," Defar said of her current 14:46 World best mark. "I feel I can run closer to 14:40."
The 23-year-old Ethiopian star is the double World Indoor champion and holder for the World indoor 3000m record (taking more than 4 seconds off the previous mark in Stuttgart this winter).
American Olympians Jen Rhines and Kate O’Neill, along with Canadian Olympian Malindi Elmore lead North America’s bid in Carlsbad. Joining them will be 2006 Fifth Avenue Mile champion Sara Hall of Mammoth Lakes, California.
Boaz Cheboiywo of Kenya, second here last year, is the top-entrant of the men’s elite 5km.
Remembering Rono
Well top entrant? In present performance yes, but in pedigree, no as that mantle rests firmly on the shoulders of 55-year-old Henry Rono who will compete in the ‘People’s Races’ on Sunday.
In 1978, Rono smashed four World records in a span of just 81 days: 5000m, 3000m Steeplechase, 10,000m, and 3000m. Despite his brilliant run of records, Rono would never compete at quite the same level again. In the following years his fame took him around the world to compete, but his boyhood in rural Kenya had not prepared him for life in the fast lane. He developed a drinking problem and soon began gaining weight. His immense talent only surfaced once more when he improved on his own 5000m World record in 1981 to13:06.20. Yet, even then he had to sweat out the previous night’s alcohol.
“My running was way too high,” commented Henry from his home in New Mexico. “And my disability was not knowing how to handle things socially.”
Apart from his struggles with alcoholism, Rono lost most of his finances and race earnings, as well. He moved throughout the U.S. from city to city between 1986 and 1996, at times living in homeless shelters, before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Contributing to his downfall was Kenya’s boycotts of both the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games, meaning this seminal figure in Kenyan athletics never represented his nation on the biggest stage in the sport.
Today, having taken control of his alcoholism, Rono, resides in Albuquerque where he coaches and has developed his own website, RonoRun.com. He has set a goal of breaking the world masters’ mile record for the 55-59 age group (4:40).
“I want to alert the public that I am back into running,” said Rono of his appearance at the Carlsbad 5000. “And this time I am doing it in the right way with both eyes open. I want to teach people that you can come back from the streets and being homeless and recover your life again.”
Ian Monahan for the IAAF
Click on the following link for a previous IAAF feature regarding Henry Rono.
**NOTE
The IAAF does not recognize World records for 5km road racing.
Previous unofficial 5km World best before Defar’s 14:46 run in 2006:
14.51, Tirunesh Dibaba, Carlsbad 5000, USA, 3 April 2005
+
14.51, Paula Radcliffe, Flora Light Women’s 5K, London, GBR, 14 September 2003
NB. mixed race/uncertified course - Lornah Kiplagat - 14:47, 28 March 2004 in Brunssum, The Netherlands.