World Road Running Championships

Posted by Gabriel Rodriguez Oct 8, 2006

Women's Race Re-Cap

Lornah Kiplagat of The Netherlands entered the IAAF World Road Running Championships with a world's best performance of 50:50 over 10 miles in her hometown only weeks ago, asserting her as the pre-race favorite. However, her fitness would truly be put to the test, as Romania's 2005 World Championship bronze medallist in the marathon, Constantina Tomescu, pushed Kiplagat to the line in a world record-setting performance for both athletes.

Kiplagat's time of 1:03:21 earned her not only a mere two-second victory over Tomescu (1:03:23), but also netted the Dane $30,000 in prize money and improved upon Great Britain Paula Radcliffe's 1:03:26 performance from 2001. 2006 Boston Marathon Champion Rita Jeptoo paced her countrywomen to the gold medal with her individual bronze medal performance with a time of 1:03:47. Ethiopia, led by Dire Tune's fourth place finish (1:05:16) led the African nation to second place, while multiple Japanese and world 15K record holder Kayoko Fukushi (1:05:32) placed sixth to lead Japan to third place in the team title.

Men's Race Re-Cap

Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea truly showed his world-class pedigree as he ran away from the field to win by a stunning 40-second margin of victory over Kenyans Robert Kipchumba (56:41) and Wilson Kiprotich Kebenei (57:15). Tadesse, the 2004 Athens Olympics bronze medallist over 10,000 meters, established a formidable championship record for years to come with his 56:01 personal best and second best ever performance over 20K behind Haile Gebrselassie's 55:48 blitzing earlier in the year.

Kipchumba and Kebenei's performances weren't for naught, as they led their contingent to a convincing victory in the team race and an additional $15,000. Tadesse's individual gold inspird his teammates to second place, while Deriba Merga's sixth place finish lead the Ethiopians to the bronze.

American Ryan Hall's breakthrough 11th place, 57:54, performance established a new North American and American record over the 20K distance. Hall's patient display of distance running was exemplified in the splits for the four loop course, as only one runner closed faster than the American's 14:29 finish: champion Tadesse and his 14:14 final 5K.