Second straight

Apparently Kenyans can run in the rain.

They might not like it, but it certainly didn’t slow down Gilbert Kiptoo on Victoria Day Monday. The Kenyan powered through slippery conditions to easily capture his second straight Halfway Motors Firegfighters Ten Mile Road Race in 50:55.

Though not close to record time, his effort was more than enough to eclipse fellow countryman Phillip Kipchumba, the reigning Thunder Bay Marathon champion, by 25 seconds and take the $1,000 first-prize cheque.

Kipchumba earned $600 for second place.

“It was a very hard race today because of the rain. It was very slippery,” said Kiptoo, who was also battling stitches in his side.

Kiptoo, who held a hefty 34-second advantage over Kipchumba at the turn, and coming off a win at last weekend’s Oak Bay Half Marathon in Victoria, said he’s only planning to keep a portion of his winnings.

The rest will go to help build a school in his native country.

“I normally take half of the prize money and use it to support people like the orphans back home,” he said, adding he’s planning a trip to Kenya next month, where he plans to host his Canadian supporters to show them what they’ve helped him accomplish.

“They’ll be staying at my place for a couple of days, meet the children and see actually what they’re contributing, what they’ve been sacrificing (for).”

Despite the margin of victory, Kiptoo, who plans to return for the marathon in the fall, said it wasn’t an easy race to run, given the poor – and somewhat typical – weather conditions.
He added he was still feeling congested, an after-effect of running along the British Columbia shore last weekend.

“I was hoping maybe the weather would be warm or sunny for me to run a better race,” Kiptoo said. “I’m not good in rainy races.”

On the other hand Josiane Aboungono, 33, the top female finisher at 1:01:58, said the weather was just what she wanted in a race that had a record number of entrants take part.
The North York, Ont. native, who spent the winter training in Africa, crossed the line more than a minute ahead of second-place finisher Hilary Quirion of Thunder Bay.

Her biggest issue was not having anyone to push her, she said.

“The weather was perfect to run,” she said. “The only problem was I was running by myself. There was no competition. I thought I was going to have a good adversary, but unfortunately (I didn’t). So I just ran my race,” said Aboungono, making her first appearance in Thunder Bay.

Like Kiptoo, Aboungono also took home a $1,000 payday.

So too did Thunder Bay’s Jon Balabuck, the top local finisher, who came in fourth overall behind Kiptoo, Kipchumba and Milton, Ont.’s John Quispe-Sanchez, in a time of 55:27.

Balabuck, a five-time Ten Mile Road Race champion, who dropped to ninth a year ago, said he felt pretty good about his performance, which netted him $250.

There was little doubt how it would play out, at least for the top three spots, he said.

“The pace went out pretty quick. They smoked it. It was actually tough day because you really had to kind of settle into your own groove and really work the course by yourself,” he said. “It was a tough day because it spread out really quick. You had really, really fast guys off the front.”

The real battle, in his mind, was to make sure he captured top spot among the local racers, a finish that had prize money attached for the first time in race history.

“I was thinking about that at mile nine. I didn’t want to think about it too early. Let’s face the fact, first, second and third got sewn up pretty quick. But the top local (finisher), that was the race within the race. And it didn’t develop until mile seven who was actually going to take the cash.”

Quirion took the local prize on the woman’s side.

Last year’s female champion, Leslie Semler of Hermantown, Minn., was third, while Thunder Bay’s Nicki Wilberforce, a two-time champion, finished fourth.