By David Monti, @d9monti | (c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved; used with permission
WASHINGTON, D.C. (07-Apr) — Two-time Olympic steeplechaser Hillary Bor enjoyed a triumphant return to the nation’s capital, winning his second consecutive USATF 10-mile championship title this morning at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Miler and lowering his own national record by a healthy 15 seconds in the process. Bor, 34, who was coming off of a strong half-marathon debut in New York City three weeks ago, finished third overall behind Kenyans Wesley Kiptoo (45:54) and Raymond Magut (45:55), clocking 45:56. Another American, Nathan Martin, also ran under Bor’s previous record of 46:11, stopping the clock at 46:00.
“Last year when I ran this race I ran 46:11 and it shows the fitness,” Bor told Race Results Weekly while wrapped in an American flag. “I went to Rabat for my steeplechase. I broke my foot and still ran 8:11. Last summer I was really, really struggling with the injury; I was just rehabbing from June to September.”
But today Bor –who represents Hoka, and like last year wore bib 13– felt healthy mile after mile. In cool and sunny conditions he was in the lead pack of seven at 5-K (14:14), and was the race leader at 10-K (28:36) where eight men remained in contention for the overall title including Kiptoo, Magut, Kenya’s Shadrack Kimining, and Americans Teshome Mekonen and Biya Simbassa. The leaders were averaging 4:38 per mile, but Bor felt the pace slow a little bit past the 10-K mark.
“Between 10-K and 15-K, we slowed down,” Bor continued. “We kind of wait and look at each other.”
With less than a mile to go, four men still had a chance for the win: Bor, Kiptoo, Magut and Martin. The race wouldn’t sort itself out until the final 800 meters where the course goes uphill, turns left, then goes back downhill for the finish line adjacent to the Washington Monument. Bor thought he could take the overall win, but Kiptoo had other ideas.
“The last 800 I was just kind of waiting,” said Kiptoo, who runs for Hoka Northern Arizona Elite. “I was like, everybody is making a move and I was like just good to wait until that last 600, and that’s where I knew I was going to win.”
Kiptoo streaked to the finish line to take the overall title, but only had a second on Magut and two seconds on Bor in the end. On the financial front Bor was the big winner, earning $10,000 for the USATF title and another $2,000 for finishing third overall. Kiptoo earned $6,000 for the overall win plus a $1,000 bonus for running sub-46:00. Magut won $3,750 for finishing second overall and running sub-46:00 (time bonuses were only available for the first and second place finishers).
“The fitness is there,” said Bor, who will move back to the track where he hopes to make his third consecutive Olympic team in the steeplechase. “Ten miles has been good to me.”
Today’s race was bittersweet for Martin. The 34 year-old, who finished seventh at the Olympic Trials Marathon in February, ran an excellent race, breaking the national record, but still ended up second in the national championships.
“I was going for the win,” Martin told Race Results Weekly. “A mile to go I tried to take off and gap people and it didn’t work out. But, it was an awesome time.”
In the separate early-start elite women’s race, Uganda’s Sarah Chelangat repeated as overall champion in a new course record of 51:14. The 22 year-old led from gun to tape, and her time was a whopping 50 seconds faster than last year. She earned a total of $7,000: $6,000 for the win and $1,000 for breaking 52 minutes. She said that she had come to win.
“I’m happy,” said Chelangat, who represents Nike. “It is hard when you are running alone, but I’m happy because I won the race.”
Behind her, American Emily Durgin was running the race of her life. Durgin, 29, who represents adidas, moved from a chase pack of three at 10-K (31:45), where she ran with Ethiopians Kasanesh Ayenew and Tegest Ymer, to running alone by the final mile. She was too far behind Chelangat at 15-K to try for the overall win, but she kept pushing because she wasn’t sure if Rachel Smith (Hoka), the recently crowned USA 15-K champion, was catching up.
“The last mile I was more like, I hope Rachel doesn’t come from behind again,” Durgin said, referring to the USA 15-K Championships on March 2 where Durgin finished third. “At that point I was still trying to maintain a good time, and coming into this race I was like, I really want to win a national title, but I also wanted to run a fast time.”
Indeed she did. Durgin’s time of 51:26 was only three seconds slower than Keira D’Amato’s USATF record for an all-women’s race set in 2020 at a special event here in Washington during the pandemic.
“If I ended up second here today and still ran fast I was going to be happy with it,” Durgin continued. “Thankfully, I think I gapped Rachel enough so she wasn’t able to out-kick me this time.”
Ayenew got third overall in 51:38 and Smith fourth in 51:40. Annie Frisbie (Puma/Minnesota Distance Elite) was fifth overall and the third American in 52:01.
Durgin, whose win today marked her first national title, made a big payday of $13,750: $10,000 for winning the national title, $3,000 for finishing second overall and $750 for breaking 52 minutes.
“It was a good day!” Durgin exclaimed, when a reporter told her about her winnings.
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In addition to being a USATF Championship event, today’s race also marked the resumption of the 2023-24 Professional Road Running Organization (PRRO) Circuit which will conclude at the Lilac Bloomsday Run 12-K in Spokane, Washington, on May 5.
As of this writing, 17,856 runners had crossed the finish line, up 7% from last year (the race record is 17,881 from 2015). There were also nearly 6,500 finishers at yesterday’s companion 5-K.
