On a busy weekend for professional road racing, NAZ Elite’s Wesley Kiptoo, who represents Kenya, scored a major victory by winning the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, which also serves as the USATF 10 Mile Road Championships.
The U.S. women’s title in the same race, held in Washington, D.C., went to Flagstaff’s Emily Durgin, who runs for Adidas. Durgin led the American most of the way (Uganda’s Sarah Chelengat was the overall winner by 12 seconds) and pulled away to win her first U.S. title in 51:14. Fellow Flagstaffian Rachel Smith, who runs for Hoka, finished fourth overall among the women but was second American in 51:40.
Meanwhile, in San Diego at the Carlsbad 5,000 road race, it was a battle of Flagstaffians, as Dark Sky’s Edwin Kurgat defended his title in 13:47, with NAZ Elite’s Matt Baxter second a mere second behind,and Dark Sky’s Ben Veatch third.
The men’s Cherry Blossom field was chock full of Flagstaff runners among the leaders. In addition to Kiptoo, who won in 45:54, McKirdy Trained’s Nathan Martin, who lives in Michigan but has trained in Flagstaff, was the second American, behind three-time U.S. champ Hillary Bor. Biya Simbassa, who runs for Ryan Hall’s group, was the third American. Under Armour Dark Sky’s Jacob Thompson finished ninth.
This may have been a breakthrough race for Kiptoo. Coming in, his road PRs in the 5K and 10K were 13:30 and 28:54, respectfully, but he did pull off an impressive 1:00:35 half marathon in Houdston in 2023. Kiptoo, 24, had fairly even splits: 4:35 per mile at 5K, 4:39 at 10K and 4:36 at 15K.
Durgin, who finished third at March’s USATF 15K championships behind Smith and Keira D’Amato, left no doubt this time. She seems to have recovered well from the FEbruary U.S. Olympic marathon trials, at which she finished ninth in 2:27:56.
“Coming into this race I was like, I really want to win at national title, but I also wanted to run a fast time,” Durgin told reporters afterward.
In San Diego, in the women’s elite race, Flagstaffians Kim Conley (Nike) and Alicia Cridebring (Dark Sky) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and McKirdy Trained’s Angie Nickerson finished 7th. Mexico’s Laura Glavan claimed the victory in 15:19.
On Saturday at the Cooper River Bridge 10K, NAZ Elite’s Stephanie Bruce finished eighth among the women, and NAZ Elite’s Alex Masai third among the men.
Finally, at the Sactown 10 Miler in Sacramento on Sunday, Brithish Olympic marathoner Calli Thackery, who trains in Flagstaff and is married to NAZ Elite’s Nick Hauger, won the women’s race in 52:06. Hauger himself came in fifth among the men in 50:36, but he was beaten by Flagstaff’s Ian Carter, 29, of McKirdy Trained, who was third in 48:58.
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