Two Doubles for KIMbia

The last few weeks were successful for KIMbia’s athletes. They achieved two double triumphs at the traditional Lilac Bloomsday 12-kilometer race in Spokane (Washington) and the Wells Fargo 5K in Salt Lake City. Additionally, Elva Dryer (USA) ran a personal best at 10,000-meter at the Kim McDonald Memorial Race at Stanford’s Cardinal Invitational Meeting.

On May 1^s John Korir (KEN) won the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane clocking 34:26 minutes, while Gilbert Okari (KEN) finished second in a time of 34:39 minutes. Thomas Kiplitan (KEN) was sixth in 35:13. The race was dominated by Kenyan athletes but John Korir showed once again his strength and won another major US road race. It was John Korir’s third victory out of three races so far this year. He first won the World’s Best 10K in Puerto Rico on February 27^th and then took the Cherry Blossom 10-mile race in Washington on April 3rd. Since John Korir won the Cherry Blossom and the Bloomsday races he is now heading for a special triple in US road running. If he wins the Peachtree 10K race in Atlanta on July 4^th, he will be awarded a $ 15,000 bonus.

The other double triumph for KIMbia happened on April 23^rd at the Wells Fargo 5K in Salt Lake City. Abraham Chebii (KEN) won the race in 13:43 minutes ahead of his training partner Sammy Kipketer who was only five seconds behind. This was Abraham Chebii’s first road race of the year. His last race had been at the World Cross Country Championships in March. There he had won the silver medal in the 4K race behind Kenenisa Bekele (ETH). Sharon Cherop (KEN) finished 4^th in the women’s race. She clocked 15:53 minutes in her first race in the US this year.

At the Kim McDonald Memorial Race at Stanford’s Cardinal Invitational Meeting on May 1^st, Elva Dryer finished third with a personal best at 10,000 meters. Clocking 31:21.92 minutes she beat the US qualifying time for the World Championships in Helsinki in August as well.