Record set at CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K Road Race
First time 14 minute 5K has been broken in New Hampshire

Joseph Mwai focuses before his record breaking run  E-mail this page  Printer-friendly page Related info: Full Results

Posted Thursday, 14 August, 2003

CONTACT:
Lindsay Shearer, 603.268.7721
Lindsay.shearer@cigna.com

MANCHESTER, NH., August 14, 2003 - This was the year for the New Hampshire record books! Joseph Mwai of Kenya set a new all-time New Hampshire record for the 5K, running the CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K Road Race in 13:55.

To make it a double header, Emily Samoei set an all-time women's record for a 5K in New Hampshire with a time of 15:49. The previous female course record was 15:53:00 set last year by Agnes Ngunjiri.

"This was a very exciting race. We have elite runners coming for all over the country and the world. It's a great opportunity for recreational runners to see how they do against the best," said Carol Martin-Krochmal, race co-director. "Because this race attracts so many elite runners, this year we added a cash prize for the first New Hampshire runners over 18 years of age to cross the finish line in order to honor all of the New Hampshire runners and walkers who have made this event such a huge success." The New Hampshire winners were John Mortimer with a time of 14:46 and Kristen with a time of 17:21. John was the ninth finisher over-all in the men's division.

The CIGNA 5K, the largest road race in New Hampshire history and the third largest timed road race in New England, is a fast USA Track and Field Certified (NH98030WN) 5K loop that starts on Elm Street and ends on Merrimack Street. "There is something for everyone," added Martin-Krochmal. "We have thousands of walkers and families with strollers bringing up the rear of the race." There were more than 5,250 runners, walkers, and wheelchair entrants registered for this year's event and thousands of people lined the course to cheer the participants on.

The Honorable Mayor Robert Baines fired the starting gun that marked the eleventh running of New Hampshire's largest road race and traditionally the third largest timed road race in New England following the Boston Marathon and the Falmouth Road Race. Proceeds from this year's race benefited Special Olympics New Hampshire, who received a $20,000 check on behalf of the race participants.

Features of the race included the wave start and ChampionChip® timing system. The wave start ensures that each participant is grouped among those individuals with similar fitness levels and that the competitive runners have a clear field ahead of them. The ChampionChip® is a small, lightweight electronic chip that is placed on a participant's shoe to provide the exact time of each individual's finish.

Contributing sponsors of the road race include WMUR-TV9, COOL 96.5, Jillian's, Southwest Airlines, Shaw's Supermarkets, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Rockingham Ambulance, Stonyfield Farm and Waste Management.

For the serious runners, the race also offers cash awards, totaling $4,000 to the first five male and female finishers. The cash awards start at $600 each for the first male and female winners and decrease by one hundred dollar increments for the second, third, fourth and fifth place male and female finishers.

Corporate teams are a major part of the CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K road Race. This year 225 corporate teams participated, ranging in size from 5 to 98 team members. Awards are given out for fastest male, female and co-ed corporate teams as wells as for the teams with the most participants and highest percentage of participants.

2003 Winners Include:

In the Corporate Categories:
Corporate Cup for the Fastest Team
Fastest Male Team: Raytheon
Fastest Female Team: Hewlett Packard
Fastest Co-ed Team: Sun Microsystems

Grand Corporate Cup for the Most Participants
Small Team - Business NH Magazine
Medium Team - Triangle Credit Union
Large Team - BAE Systems

Grand Corporate Cup for the Highest Percentage of Participation
Small Team - Benefit Profiles
Medium Team - Total Image
Large Team - Rockywold Deephaven Camps

In the Individual Categories:

Top 5 Male Finishers:
Joseph Mwai, 20, West Chester, PA 13:55, prize money - $1,600 course record
Julius Kimta, 28, Kennesaw, GA 14:03, prize money $750
Paul Mwangi, 36, Ossining, NY 14:04, prize money $650
Araya Haregot, 22, Washington, DC 14:14, prize money $550
Patrick Nthiwa, 20, West Chester, PA 14:16, prize money $450

In addition, Sablon Mokaya, David Korir, Makke Hussein, John Mortimer and Salvatore Bettiol beat a time of 14:50 to win $250 each.

Top 5 Female Finishers:
Emily Sasmoei, 22, Kennesaw, GA 15:49, prize money $1,600 - course record
Naomi Wangui, 25, West Chester, PA 16:07, prize money $750
Atalelech Ketema, 30, Bronx, NY 16:10, prize money $650
Bruna Genovese, 26, Italy 16:31, prize money $550
Tatyana Posdnyakova, 48, Gainsville, FL 16:36, prize money $450

In addition Maria Servin, Susannah Beck, Agnes Ngunjiri, Heather Gardiner, and Brandee Boice beat at time of 17:20 to win $250 each.

Top Male Masters Finishers will be awarded once the age grading is completed. Winners will receive two round-trip airline tickets from Southwest Airlines.

A $250 award was presented to all individuals who bettered a time of 14:50 for men and 17:20 for women.

All participants received a Road Race T-shirt as well as a finisher's award.

Results can be found on the Internet at www.coolrunning.com. Results will not be posted at the race. Results organized by state, city or town, or age may be accessed at http://216.177.91.12/cigna/.

Photos will soon be available on Cool Running.

Related info:
Full Results

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