Ethiopia sweeps team titles; Team USA runner-up twice; race record field
BOULDER, Colo. – (May 28, 2007) – The Second Running Boom is certainly alive and well, as the 29th Bolder Boulder showed on Memorial Day, as registration hit a record number of 50,816 entrants.
Many of those runners and walkers turned into fans after their finish, sticking around inside the Folsom Field football stadium on the University of Colorado campus to see if local heroes Sara Slattery and Alan Culpepper could lead the U.S. teams to victories at the 10th International Team Challenge.
The United States came close, finishing second to distance running powerhouse Ethiopia in both the men’s and the women’s races. Slattery, the defending Bolder champ, had a disappointing day, finishing 13th, but her finish, combined with 2005 Bolder champ Elva Dryer in third and Kate O’Neill in sixth, was good for 22 points for Team USA.
Up front, it was Edna Kiplagat of Kenya hitting the May trifecta, as she added the Bolder title to the ING Bay to Breakers and Lilac Bloomsday 12K victories she picked up earlier this month.
Kiplagat clocked 33 minutes, 42 seconds, the same time Slattery ran in winning last year. Amane Gobena finished second in 33:59, leading Ethiopia to the team title (2-4-7). Kenya, with 27 points (1-9-17), was third.
Two-time Olympian Dryer ran an excellent race, finishing third in 34:01, with O’Neill a surprising sixth (34:20).
“The Kenyans and Ethiopians were actually playing games with each other,” said Dryer. “They were kind of weaving a little bit. I just tried to focus on running my race, knowing that there was a chance that some of them would fall off.”
O’Neill, a 2004 Olympian, said her training at Mammoth Lakes’s high-altitude helped her, adding, “This race was everything I thought it would be, especially being part of a team.”
After taking some water and recovering from the heat post-race, Slattery soon was back to her competitive self, saying, “I challenge her (Kiplagat) next year. I’ll be ready for it and I won’t let anyone down.”
Morocco’s Ridouane Harroufi certainly did not let anyone down with his win in the men’s race, the first-ever by a Moroccan at the Bolder Boulder. The 3:36 1500 meter man from 5,000-foot Azrou, Morocco, waved and pointed to the jubilant crowd of countrymen and women who were in the stadium to watch his win.
With hot weather slowing the pace, the race turned into a tactical affair that favored the runner with the best finishing kick.
And that was clearly Harroufi, 24, who was sixth in the 2006 Bolder Boulder. He unleashed a decisive sprint on the final turn from Folsom Street on the climb into the stadium to break clear of Ethiopian Solomon Tsige (left, front), who led much of the race.
“I am so happy because there are a lot of good athletes here,” Harroufi said through an interpreter, speaking his native Arabic. “I was following the others and waiting. I know I am fast at the end.”
Harroufi clocked 29 minutes, 52 seconds, the slowest winning time since 1988 and six seconds up on Tsige, who had no answer for Harroufi’s sprint.
Ethiopia (2-3-8) took the team title with 13 points, while the United States, led by Culpepper in fourth (30:13), placed second.
The U.S. trio combined for 20 points as Matt Gonzales was seventh (30:36) and Edwardo Torres ninth (30:55). It was just the second time the United States placed all three male runners in the top 10 at the team competition.
Morocco tied the British Commonwealth composite team with 29 points, but the Commonwealth got the nod for third because its third runner, Michael Aish, was 13th, three spots ahead of Morocco’s third man, Laalaami Cherkaoui.
“Overall, I am pleased, both individually and for our team,” said Culpepper, also a two-time Olympian. “I feel I ran a solid race, and felt I put myself in the race and was competitive. I am happy with that, and on the team side, I am pleased that we ran to our potential.”
Warm weather played a part in the slower times, with Culpepper, the 2002 race runner-up, saying, “This was the hardest 30:13 I’ve ever run.”
Added Culpepper, whose next race will be the 10,000 meter U.S. nationals at Indianapolis in late June, “The crowd support was incredible again. All in all it was just another great year.”
At the event, Team USA, with two seconds, also tied its best combined performance with the 2002 U.S. team – first (women) and third (men).