Kitur and Jennings Take New Bedford Half
by Francis Locke Gatehouse
Also see New Bedford: From a Runner's Point-of-View
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Race start/finish
video by Alexis Anderson
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Hosted by the Greater New Bedford Track Club
New Bedford, Massachusetts - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," must be Kenyan runner Elijah Kitur's motto. Kitur, who now lives in Ossinging, NY, used the Holyoke 10K, held the day before, as a warmup for this year's New Bedford Half Marthon. In Holyoke he finished in third place.
Kitur battled with fellow New Yorker Michael Slinskey stride for stride for eight miles before winning by one stride. It was one of the closest finishes in the illustrious twenty-two year history of the event.
"I was tired, but I knew I could outkick him at the end," said Kitur, following the race. Both Kitur and Slinskey finished with identical times of 1:06:03, further illustrating the closeness of their finish.
The twenty-nine year old Slinskey recently finished tenth overall at the Jones 10-Miler in Amherst, MA on February 28. The race served as the New England Championship for 10-miles. At that race Slinskey ran 52:42. His pace in Amherst must have seemed down right pedestrian compared to today's blistering 5:05 minute per mile pace.
In the women's race, U.S. Olympian and two time World Cross Country Champion Lynn Jennings of Newmarket, NH, ran to an easy victory. She finished nine-minutes ahead of second place finisher Chris Junkerman of Marlboro, MA with a time of 1:11:41. Jennings no doubt was using the race as part of her Boston Marathon training.
The men's race developed into a two-man race at about four miles when Moroccan Rachid Tabahi fell off the pace leaving Kitur and Slinskey alone to battle it out.
Kitur ran most of the way drafting on Slinskey's shoulder, letting him do most of the work. At about a quarter-mile from the finish line Kitur made his move, opening up a small lead. Slinskey, refusing to give up, came back with about 100 yard to go. "I wasn't going to give it to him," said Slinskey. However the Kenyan's finishing kick proved to be too strong as he outkicked Slinskey in the final few feet to take home the $1000 first prize.
Approximately 1,627 runners entered the race. This was a much larger field than was expected.
Check out the Complete Results
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