Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia set a US All-comers record of 30:19.38 (© Victah Sailer)
Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia set a US All-comers record of 30:19.38 for the 10,000m at the ‘distance running festival’ at Payton Jordan meet on Sunday night (29 May), which will host the IAAF GPII programme today.
Kidane, currently sixth in the IAAF World Ranking for the distance, who was featured on the IAAF website last week - click here for the story - in the process of her run established the 11th fastest time in the history of the event. She already possesses the fourth fastest ever clocking - 30:07.15 – which she set when taking the World Championship silver in 2003.
There were only four runners - Megan Daly, Yelena Kanales, Merima Hashim and Werknesh Kidane - in the women's 10,000m, which started at 8:00pm last night. Immediately after the start, Kanales went into the lead followed by Kidane and Hashim. Then down the back straight for the third time Hashim lost contact with Kidane and Kanales because the third lap took only 69 seconds.
After 1Km was passed in 3:00.5 Kanales, presumably an official pace setter, dropped out leaving Kidane alone at the front for the rest of the race, lapping Daly around 3450m and Hashim around 6550m.
Kidane passed 2Km in 5:59.7, 3Km in 8:58.8 and 4Km in 11:59.4. Then she started to slow down passing 5Km in 15:01.6, 6Km in 18:04.1, 7Km in 21:07.7, 8Km in 24:12.7, 9Km in 27:17.8. Kidane covered the final lap in 70.2 seconds and finished in 30:19.38. It improved on her own US All-comers record of 30:41.40, which she set on the same track on 7 June 2003.
MEN's 10,000m
In the men's 10,000m, Kidane's fiance Geb Gebremariam won in 27:11.57 from Dejene Berhanu who finished second in 27:12.22.
Martin Keino and Julius Kiptoo were the pacemakers towing Gebremariam and Berhanu in 2:41.3 for 1Km, and 5:19.9 for 2Km. After 2Km Keino dropped out (Keino also paced a 5000m race earlier, dropping out after 2Km). The 3Km was passed in 8:02.0. After 8 laps Kiptoo also dropped out, leaving Gebremariam in the lead followed by Berhanu. From that point Gebremariam and Berhanu helped each other, each taking the lead for two laps.
After 4Km was passed in 10:46.0, Berhanu took over the lead from Gebremariam. After the lap 12 Gebremariam was back in front and passed 5Km in 13:29.1. The pattern continued, passing 6Km in 16:12.7, 7Km in 18:56.4, 8Km in 21:42.6 and 9Km in 24:27.0. Gebremariam and Berhanu were still helping each other.
After passing the bell lap in 26:09.5, the race came down to the sprint in the home-straight. Gebremariam was a better sprinter and won by less than a second. After the race Gebremariam said that he was hoping to run around 26:40 or so.
Gebremariam and Berhanu were under the US All comers record pace for much of the race but slowed down near the end of the race. The US All-comers record was set by Kenyan Abraham Chebii on the same track on May 4, 2001.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF