Star studded Peachtree 10k in Atlanta easy sweep for on-fire Kitwara

Unfortunately for the pack, it couldn’t catch Kitwara (pictured above while racing Bay-to-Breakers) on Saturday in the 40th Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race. Amid mild weather conditions, the Kenyan ran a personal best 27:22 to win the 6.2-mile race, blistering the field by 40 seconds.

Results won’t be made official until Monday because of a protest over an act of sportsmanship on the course filed against fourth-place finisher Tadese Tola of Ethiopia by one of the top-10 finishers. Another runner said Tola elbowed him as they approached the finish line.
But the protest, believed to be the first in Peachtree history, didn’t dampen the mood of the 55,000 people who ran and mostly seemed glad that the weather was cool and that the race finished in Piedmont Park again after a one-year hiatus.

“I like the course,” said the 22-year-old Kitwara, who was making his debut in Atlanta. “Not used to running [alone]. I pushed myself.”
Kitwara’s previous best in a 10k was 27:26. With the win, he took home the $15,000 first-place prize as well as splitting a $35,000 prize from the Professional Road Running Organization with the women’s winner, Lineth Chepkurui.

Also a Kenyan and the top seed in her debut, Chepkurui, 21, ran a personal best 31:31, beating by one second Ethiopia’s Meseret Mengsitu. Chepkurui’s previous best was 32:08.

Though temperatures were in the low 70s with 63 percent humidity when the race started, both winners said conditions were hot and very humid, prompting smiles from those standing around them, who then described how stifling it usually is in Atlanta in July. Both runners said they would be returning to defend their titles.

“It was very tight,” Chepkurui said. “But I’m very happy. Very excited.”

The top U.S. finishers on the men’s and women’s sides were Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz., who finished sixth (28:11), and New York’s Ilsa Paulson, who finished 86th (33:09) overall and 13th in the women’s field. The top Georgians were Girma Mecheso, who finished 23rd (29:27), and Janel Blancett, who finished 193rd (36:28). Both are Atlanta residents.

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