The Tenth Annual CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K
Manchester, NH, August 8, 2002 Paul Mwangi and Agnes Ngunjiri were the fastest male and female finishers in a field of over 5,000 registered runners and walkers who participated in the CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K Road Race held Thursday, August 8th, in Downtown Manchester, NH.
Posted Friday, 9 August, 2002
For More Information Contact:
Lindsay Shearer
Regional Director, Public Relations
800.500.1098 ext. 7721
Cell Phone: 603.490.5215
lindsay.shearer@cigna.com
The Tenth Annual CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K
Manchester, NH, August 8, 2002 Paul Mwangi and Agnes Ngunjiri were the fastest male and female finishers in a field of over 5,000 registered runners and walkers who participated in the CIGNA HealthCare Corporate 5K Road Race held Thursday, August 8th, in Downtown Manchester, NH. Ms. Ngunjiri broke the women's course record at a time of 15:53.00. Mr. Mwangi's time was the second fastest time recorded in the history of the CIGNA 5K. The Honorable Mayor Robert Baines fired the starting gun that marked the tenth 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.
"The Race Committee continuously looks at ways to engage everyone in the community, from elite athletes to recreational walkers who participate with co-workers, friends and family to be a part of a fun event," said Deborah Wing, race co-director and New England marketing director for CIGNA HealthCare.
Each year, CIGNA HealthCare of New Hampshire makes a donation on behalf of the race participants. This year, the CIGNA Foundation is donating $20,000 to Special Olympics New Hampshire.
"We are very pleased to present this wonderful event which so many people look forward to each year. Hundreds of volunteers and CIGNA employees, and the support of the City of Manchester make this event possible, " added Carol Martin-Krochmal, race co-director.
On-line registration was available again this year, as was 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 runner's shoe to provide the exact time of each participant's finish.
Contributing sponsors of the road race include WMUR-TV9, Margaritas, Southwest Airlines, Shaw's Supermarkets, Tower Realty, Waste Management, Coca Cola, Woodworks and Wal-Mart.
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 5K. This year over 210 corporate teams participated, ranging in size from 5 to 96 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.
2002 Winners Include:
Corporate Cup for the Fastest Team
Fastest Male Team: Hewlett Packard
Fastest Female Team: Hewlett Packard
Fastest Co-Ed Team: BAE Systems
Grand Corporate Cup for the Most Participants on a team
Small Team (5-15) -NH Department of Resources and Economic Development
Medium Team (16-99) CLD Consulting Engineers
Large Team (100+) - BAE Systems
Grand Corporate Cup for the Highest Percentage of Participation
Small Team (5-15) - Cook Dental Studio
Medium Team (16-99) - Manchester Farm and Flower
Large Team - (100+) Rockywold-Deephaven Camps
Top 5 Male Finishers:
Paul Mwangi 35 Ossining, NY 14:05.60
Zablon Mokaya 28 Kennesaw, GA 14:16.10
Tim Mangera 25 Maplewood, NJ 14:19.20
Charles Kaminbo 24 Dallas, GA 14:28.60
Wilson Perez 24 Macedon, NY 14:36.70
Top 5 Female Finishers:
Agnes Ngunjiri 26 Kennesaw, GA 15:53.00
Katie McGregor 24 Edina, MN 16:12.60
Tatyana Pozdyakova 47 Gainesville, FL 16:16.60
Sarah Dupre 26 Brighton, MA 16:37.50
Kristin Schwartz 30 Boulder, CO 16:46.10
A $1,000 award is presented to anyone breaking the course record and a $250 award is presented to all individuals who better a time of 14:50 for men and 17:20 for women. Best male and female masters finishers will receive two round-trip airline tickets courtesy of Southwest Airlines.
All participants, regardless of their age/finishing time, receive a Road Race T-shirt as well as a finisher's award.
Results can also 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 www.keyinfoinc.com/cigna.
Note to the Media: If you are receiving this News Release via fax, results for participants from your coverage area follow. If you are receiving this New Release by e-mail, photos of the road race will follow under separate cover.
If you have questions on race night, Lindsay Shearer may be contacted on her cell phone at 603.490.5215.
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