At Monday’s New Haven Road Race, which served as the USATF 20K Road Championships, Flagstaff’s Biya Simbassa broke the championship record by running 58:29.
Unfortunately for Simbassa, Hoka’s Hilary Bor and McKirdy Trained’s Nathan Martin broke it as well. Bor dominated from the start, opening a huge lead in the first 10K and was never really threatened in claiming the title in 58:09. Martin pulled away from Simbassa to finish second in 58:26, with Simbassa coming in three seconds later.
This was Simbassa’s first race since his coach, Ryan Hall, announced that he was leaving the coaching ranks. It did not seem to faze Simbassa, who has raced consistently well this year. Before Monday, he had finished sixth at the USATF Road 8K championships in Tennessee in July, fourth at the Beach to Beacon 10K in August, fifth at the Bolder Boulder in May.
In the women’s race, Hoka NAZ Elite marathoner Lauren Hagans, coming off an injury and prepping for the Chicago Marathon in October, finished sixth in 1:07:42 (Keira D’Amato won in 1:06:25. Flagstaff’s Rachel Smith was ninth in 1:08:45.
— Although Flagstaff’s Jim Walmsley, the defending champ, had to drop out of the UTMB, the world’s most prestigious ultra with a knee injury, Flagstaff’s Abby Hall, coming off serious injury and surgery, made a successful comeback, finishing as the 31st woman in 31 hours 17 minutes 11 seconds.
On Instagram, Hall wrote that she was “closing the book” on her injury recovery saga and considers herself back. She added about the race itself: “The sufferfest gear kicked in earlier than planned. I took a bad fall in Les Contamines and banged up my ribs, but kept rallying. i wanted to stop in Courmayeur and then again in Cmpex-Lac, but (husband and ultrarunner Cordis Hall) kept bringing me back to why continuing was meaningful to me. this was about something bigger than a result next to my name. This one is for the me that wondered if I’d ever get back here.”
— NAZ Elite’s Paige Wood, nine months post-partum, raced in Pennsylvania and won the women’s title at the Wyoming Valley Run, a 10-miler, in 56:15. Wood was fourth overall.
— Dark Sky Distance’s Adva Cohen, raced the 2,000-meter steeplechase at a Grand Prix race in Berlin on Sunday and set an Israeli record in 6:13:28. That was good enough for 11th overall.
Leave a Reply