Lornah Kiplagat at the press race press conference in San Juan (21 Feb 2008) (© Sean Wallace-Jones)
The annual winter contest to see who can beat Lornah Kiplagat, better known as The World’s Best 10K - an IAAF Gold Label Road Race - will take place again on Sunday evening (24) here, on and around the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge.
Road racing legend Kiplagat has won this race four times in a row, five total, and she returns to San Juan having retained the IAAF World Road Running Championship title last autumn in Udine, Italy. Yet she comes to San Juan with a couple of question marks hovering around her.
Last month at the Dubai Marathon she dropped out at 21K, citing an injury to her right calf. So question number one is: Will the calf seize up on her again Sunday? Answer: Only time will tell. And question number two is: Will she be able to garner enough speed, coming off marathon training just last month? Answer: “No problem, we do the same kind of training for a marathon as for a 10K,” said her coach Peter Langerhorst.
Kiplagat, who is also the reigning World Cross Country champion, will be tested by a strong women’s field, which includes a slew of Ethiopians headed by Eligayehu Dibaba, plus Romania’s Luminta Talpos.
Kiplagat’s deep knowledge of the course and conditions here give her an admitted edge, she she took the better of Meseret Defar last year, and in 2004 she defeated Paula Radcliffe in a heated duel, the year after Radcliffe set a World record on the course. But Kiplagat wasn’t about to give away any secrets on Thursday (21), just before a press conference at the InterContinental Hotel.
“I just like to run here,” she said. “Every time I run here I feel good because of the weather and because I get to relax. I get here a week early and that makes it very nice and relaxing.”
On the men’s side, defending champ Gilbert Okari will be severely tested by Deriba Merga, 2nd at the IAAF World Road Running Championships last October, and it could come down to one of Okari’s extended kicks. Kenyans Phillip Lagat, Linus Mayo, John Korir (the 2005 winner) and James Yatich will also be in the running.
The World’s Best 10K is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race. Just 12 races world-wide have been issued a gold label—nine marathons, two half-marathons and one 10K, The World’s Best 10K.
Sean Wallace-Jones, the IAAF Senior Manager for Road Running cited the television coverage of the race (ESPN broadcasts a taped one-hour production each year and the race is seen in 60 countries) and high level of competition (in addition to Kiplagat and Radcliffe, such runners as Paul Tergat, Khalid Khannouchi and Tegla Loroupe have raced here) as well as the excellence of organisation in the areas of safety, medical services and media coverage among the criteria for the awarding of the Gold Label.
Dave Kuehls for the IAAF
