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Kenyans Josephat Kithii and Rose Kosgei won last night's Medtronic TC 1 Mile, each taking home $4,000 in prize money and setting event records.
Kithii was hoping to break the four-minute barrier and pocket an additional $10,000 time bonus. Although he fell well short that mark, he still set a new event record with a 4:09 finish time, easily topping Luke Watson's 4:16 event record set in 2006. Lagat was very close behind and was also credited with the same time. American Jordan Fife was third in 4:10.
"My race was fast, but the time I was hoping for was 3:50," said Kithii. "I ran over the weekend in Jamaica (he ran 3:47.51 for 1500m) and thought I could achieve this goal."
Kosgei was running on tired legs after winning the Union-Tribune Race for Literacy 8-K last Sunday morning in San Diego, then pacing Shalane Flanagan's U.S. 10,000m record run at Stanford University in Palo Alto the same evening. Nonetheless, she beat Serbian Marina Muncan by a comfortable four seconds, 4:37 to 4:41. Her time was well below Jenelle Deatherage's 4:52 race record set in 2007.
"There was a lot of wind and the course was not that flat," said Kosgei. "After two races on Sunday, I came to the TC 1 Mile and didn't think I could win this one."
Team USA Minnesota's Emily Brown and Carrie Tollefson finished third and fourth, clocking 4:43 and 4:48, respectively. Brown had run a personal best 15:19.57 over 5000m at Stanford last Sunday night, while Tollefson was not at full strength after recovering from a recent illness.
Organizers were pleased with the event which recorded 1,895 finishers last night, including runners from 15 corporate teams.
"An urban one mile is a unique race for runners and spectators alike," said Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. executive director Virginia Brophy Achman. "From the first wave through the championship waves, the Nicollet Mall was full of energy despite a cooler than expected evening."
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