Kiplagat, Kel win Peachtree race
Posted Wednesday, 5 July, 2006
ATLANTA -- Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands won her fifth Peachtree Road Race title Tuesday and Martin Kel of Kenya captured the men's division to lead a field of 55,000 runners, the world's largest 10-kilometer road race
On a smoggy Fourth of July morning, Lel sprinted away from the lead group of five runners in the fourth mile of the 6.2-mile run and won unofficially in 27 minutes, 20 seconds. With less than a half mile left, Kiplagat made a quick burst to overtake Jemima Jelagat of Kenya and win in 31:09. Kiplagat moved to the Netherlands from Kenya in 2003.
South Africa's Krige Schabort won the men's wheelchair race to add to his 2002 and 2003 titles. Switzerland's Edith Hunkeler took the women's wheelchair division for the second straight year.
The race began at 7:30 a.m. in 75-degree heat on a humid day, with giant American flags flying over the starting line. Many runners wore shorts decorated with the stars and stripes and others carried flags.
Runners Greg Lohman and son Austin of Jacksonville, Fla., painted themselves in the colors of the flag -- Greg in stars and Austin, just back from Air Force boot camp, in stripes.
MEN -
1. Martin Lel, 27, KEN, 27:25
2. Wilson Kiprotich, 25, KEN, 27:49
3. William Chebon Chebor, 25, KEN, 27:54
4. Gilbert Okari, 27, KEN, 27:59
5. Micah Kogo, 20, KEN, 28:02
6. Samuel Rongo, 33, KEN, 28:15
7. Ridouane Harroufi, 24, Vancouver, WA (MAR), 28:30
8. Mario Macias, 25, Alamosa, CO, 28:47
9. Nephat Kinyanjui, 28, KEN, 29:04
10. Andrew Letherby, 32, Boulder, CO (AUS), 29:10
WOMEN -
1. Lornah Kiplagat, 32, NED, 31:13
2. Jemima Jelagat, 21, KEN, 31:15
3. Gete Wami, 31, ETH, 31:55
4. Susan Chepkemei, 31, KEN, 31:57
5. Nataliya Berkut, 30, UKR, 32:13
6. Kathy Butler, 32, Nederland, CO (GBR), 32:24
7. Lidiya Grigoryeva, 32, RUS, 32:24
8. Luminita Talpos, 33, ROM, 32:28
9. Madai Perez, 26, MEX, 32:34
10. Katie McGregor, 28, Minneapolis, MN, 32:44
i