American men had a stronger presence at the Crim 10-mile road race, but Saturday’s 34th annual race was yet another example of Kenyan dominance of the sport.
Julius Kogo, who didn’t decide to race the Crim until Thursday, led a 1-2-3 Kenyan finish with a time of 47:06 to claim $5,000 as the overall winner. Countrymen Robert Letting (47:15) and Kiprotich Kirui (47:24) took the next two places.
The big money, however, went to Indianapolis native Fasil Bizuneh, who was the USA Track & Field national 10-mile champion by placing fourth overall in 47:29. Bizuneh won $7,000 from a special prize purse established for the top American men.
Bizuneh’s time was the fastest by an American at the Crim since Ed Eyestone took fifth in 1989 in 47:06. His finish tied the best by an American since the Crim went to prize money in 1991. Brian Sell, a 2008 Olympian in the marathon, was fourth in the 2004 Crim.
“It shows people that I’m back on the scene,” said Bizuneh, who is prepping for the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 10. “I’m going out to Chicago trying to run 2:09. There’s only been four Americans under 2:10 the past 10 years, so that’s a big goal. This is an intermediate step toward that in six weeks.”
Bizuneh was followed by Americans Antonio Vega in fifth (47:43) and Justin Young in sixth (47:49).
IMG_0273.JPGView full sizeCassi Alexandra | The Flint JournalJulius Kogo (79) and Robert Letting (45) led the Crim 10-mile road race most of the way before Kogo pulled away to win.
But this race was destined to have a Kenyan winner for the 17th time in the past 20 years when Letting set a blistering pace in the second mile and only Kogo and Kirui were willing to go with him. After a 4:42 opening mile, Letting set the tempo for mile splits of 4:32, 4:32, 4:35 and 4:38 before the inevitable slowdown in the Bradley hills section.
“My strategy was to break the group,” Letting said. “I knew the guys were very strong.”
Kogo was the strongest of the group. He felt he was in such great condition that he decided two days before the race to pay for his own air fare to the race. He was coming off a victory one week earlier in the Parkersburg (W. Va.) Half Marathon, a race in which he ran 1:02:10.
“He was thirsty for a race,” said Kogo’s coach and agent, Ben Kurgat.
Kogo and Letting ran alone for the final five miles, with Kogo pulling away in the final mile.
Kirui had long since fallen off the lead pack, becoming an inviting target for the leaders in the American race. Nobody vying for U.S. money wanted to make too bold a move and jeopardize their chances of winning the American title, however.
“Me and my coach talked about it, and the goal was really to secure the U.S. title,” Bizuneh said. “Once I had the U.S. title secured, then try to go after one of the top three places. I probably ran the last three miles faster than the top three guys, but at the end of the day I’m happy to get the U.S. title.”
Vega came into the race as the leader in the USATF points circuit. He set the pace for a group of three U.S. runners who were about 30 seconds behind the overall leaders much of the way.
“At one point, I thought I had them broken,” Vega said. “I thought I was going to be the top American. Then, all of a sudden, Fasil made this real hard push on an uphill and he kind of broke me. I tried to rally a bunch of times to reel him back in and it wasn’t going to happen today.”
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