Running: Peachbud race report

Friday, July 03, 2009 - 02:49 PM

The Tim Hortons Peach Bud 10k has been known to be held on the hottest day of the year. It comes as a surprise then when on race day, this June 30th, an hour before the start time of the 10 kilometer race, a wicked storm passed through bringing down sheets of rain, and the temperature with it.

At the start of the feature race, conditions were nearly perfect. Nineteen degrees, slight breeze, and a cooling mist. There were several very strong runners in the field. Kibet Rutto had just come off of a 3rd place finish in Ottawa with a time of 28:20. Moses Macharia had run 28:12 in Toronto back in May. Both of these times are much quicker than the 29:33 race record.

The start went off in a mad sprint, as it typically does, but the front thinned out quickly. After 1k, there was a pack of 6 runners just 10 meters ahead of the rest of the field. The time, 2:49, 28:10 pace. At 1.5k three runners started to pull away from the lead pack. Moses Macharia, Kibet Rutto and Mark Lotem. Two kilometers in, Rutto begins to put distance on Macharia. The time going through 2k is 5:41, still very close to that 28:20 pace. From here all of the way to this finish line is a story of one man, Kibet Rutto. Through 3k, he has a 50 meter lead on Macharia with a time of 8:30.

Ask Rutto came up on 5k Macharia is over 100 meters behind. The winning time for the 5k an hour earlier was 15:37. Rutto came through in an astounding time of 14:23, with half of the race yet to go.

At 8 kilometers, Jamie Lynch who was on rollerblades filming the race briefly had to stop filming and try to catch up to Rutto. His time, 23:15 still put him well under record pace and very close to the 29 minutes barrier.

Nine kilometers came around at the intersection of Casablanca Boulevard and Livingston. Standing on that corner as Kibet turned on to the home straight, one could look up to Highway 8, and see that second place had not yet turned the corner.

At 9k, Rutto's time was 26:05. He would have to finish in less that 2 minutes and 55 seconds for his last kilometer in order to break the 29 minute barrier. The record was sure to be broken.

Down the finishing straight he went. Kibet Rutto's final time: 29:00.6. His pace averaged out to 2:54 for every kilometer. To put this in perspective, 2:55 breaks into one minute and 10 seconds for every 400 meters or 17.5 seconds for every hundred. To stay at this pace for 10000 meters is incredible.

Rutto received the RONA Cash award of $500 for winning the race and an additional $500 for a new course record. Rounding out the top 5 were Moses Macharia in second (30:26.5) Mark Lotem (30:33.6) Josephat Ongeri (30:34.1) and Josphat Moko (31:15.6)


The women's race was won by Firehiwot Gebreyesus in 35:12 who led the race from wire to wire. Firehiwot has been burning up the roads lately and was followed by Krista Duchene 36:39 Ayanadis Bedada 37:05 and two time winner Josiane Aboungono 37:28. The course record held by Jackcline Torrori was never in jepardy as Firehiwot seemed content with the win and the $500 1st place purse.


The acoompaning 5k was won by Deng Marvak - 15:37 and heather Stuive. One Thousand two hundred and thirty runners participated in the races the largest field in the 29 year history of the race.


For full results, go to www.sportstats.ca and follow the Peach Bud link. The next race will be the Beamsville Bench 5k, on August 15th