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TORONTO. May 6th. Kenya's Stephen Koskei won a thrilling three-man sprint to the line over fellow countrymen Isaac Arusei and Philip Koech at the Sporting Life 10K this morning, in 27:47, just 2 seconds off the course record set by Ruben Chebii in 2004. It was a big PR for Stephen who came second at Cooper Bridge River Run in 28:42 on March 31st. Florence Jepkoskei ran a course record 31:42 to win the women's race by over a minute. Conditions were ideal-- 9 celcius under clear, blue skies, with only a slight cross-wind from the East-- for the record field of 9,250 entrants, and contributed to what was perhaps Toronto's finest-ever road race.
The downhill course certainly lived up to it's billing as "Canada's fastest 10K". After a polite first kilometre down the middle of the country's most-famous street [Yonge] in 2:55, a group of 12 men settled into their pace, registering 2:47 for the second kilometre. At this point, where Yonge Street goes down into a dip by Mt.Pleasant cemetery, Isaac Arusei made the first move, going hard up the slope on the other side to maintain the 2:47 pace for the third kilometre [[8:29 at 3k]. This really sorted things out in a hurry, and the group was down to 6--Arusei, the two Koechs, another Kenyan Henry Githuka, and Toronto's Gittah Macharia and Danny Kassap.
Arusei continued to keep the pedal down hard as the group crested the slope at St.Clair, and plunged down past CHUM radio station to Summerhill, registering a 2:38 fourth kilometre. Very quickly, Githuka and the 2 Canadians went overboard, with an instant 20 metre gap opening up to Githuka, and then another gap to Macharia and Kassap.
Alone, the top three pushed on relentlessly, passing halfway in 13:54, running 2:47 for the fifth kilometre, then 2:48, 2:44; 2:45; 2:48 and 2:48. They ran shoulder to shoulder, with first one then the other trying to take a stride advantage, until they came to the last 400m on York Street and the final straightaway on Bremner. Arusei sprinted first. As they rounded the last turn onto Bremner, Philip Koech came back on him, then out of nowhere, Stephen Koech blew by them both for the thrilling victory. All three were well under 28 minutes [27:47; 27:49 and 27:50]; Githuka ran a strong race for third [28:32], with Macharia taking the final money position in 28:52--the identical time to his winning run in 2006.
On the women's side, Jepkoskei went out hard and got things over early, cruising to what looked like a very comfortable 31:44 victory as she crossed the line. Fellow Kenyan Pauline Githuka, now living in Milton, Ontario, was the best of the chasing pack, finishing second in 32:48, ahead of Monica Wangari 33:01, England's Vicky Gill [33:02], and Toronto's Lioudmila Kortchaguina [33:18] who, in fairness, raced the hometown event at the end of a 200+km week in her final preparations for the ING Ottawa Marathon.
It was a brilliant sunny day, full of "wow" moments. Not the least of which was when the kids from Camp Oochigeas got up at the awards ceremony to thank the runners for raising in excess of C$300,000 for "Ooch", a unique summer camp for kids with cancer in Muskoka--"thank you for sending me to camp," said Jennifer, and there was hardly a dry eye in the park.
Results:
Men:
1. Stephen Koech, Kenya 27:47 PR
2. Isaac Arusei, Kenya 27:49
3. Philip Koech, Kenya 27:50
4. Henry Githuka, Kenya 28:32
5. Giitah Macharia, Toronto 28:52
Women:
1. Florence Jepkoskei, Kenya 31:42 CR
2. Pauline Githuka, Kenya 32:48
3. Monica Wangari, Kenya 33:01
4. Vicky Gill, Great Britain 33:02
5. Lioudmila Kortchaguina, Toronto 33:18
Full results and photos at www.canadarunningseries.com/sportinglife.
Next races in the Canada Running Series; Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon, June 24th and Nissan Toronto Ten Miler, July 15th.
See exciting finish of the race on YouTube
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| Photo Credit: Inge Johnson, Photo/Video Manager - Canada Running Series
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