Nell Rojas of Boulder won the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run on Sunday, winning her first national USATF title. She finished the race in 52 minutes 13 seconds to edge second-place Jenny Simpson in 52:16. The race served as the USA Track & Field 10 mile championship.
“At seven or eight miles, I was more surprised that it started to slow down and I found myself in the lead,” Rojas said. “I could tell everyone else was working hard … and I was like, ‘I’m not working hard.’ So at that point, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to let myself believe I can win this thing.’ ”
Many 10-mile races develop a pecking order about halfway through, but by the eighth mile, the top six runners were still bumping elbows without a front-runner. Simpson, who was running the first long-distance race of her career after a decade as one of the world’s best middle-distance runners, was in that group — and firmly in the heads of the top runners. Behind Simpson, Kenyans Antonina Kwambai (52:23) and Caroline Rotich (52:25) and Minnesotan Annie Frisbie (52:26) rounded out the congested top five.
The men’s side was decidedly less contested, with Kenya’s Edwin Kimutai (45:45) finishing 33 seconds ahead of American Abbabiya Simbassa (46:18). Kimutai, one of the favorites entering the day, finished the race with the same expression that he held during it: focused.
“I was good the whole time,” Kimutai said of his stamina. “For me, I’m normally running for the marathon.”
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