Course Records Fall in Deep Valencia Marathon

By Adam Kopet

Joshua Cheptegei entered the 10K Valencia Trinidad Alfonso with the world record on his mind. The Ugandan was successful, taking six seconds off the 2010 record of 26:44, running 26:38.

RESULTS

It was the final 10K race of the event, as the race organizers have decided to focus their efforts on the marathon (more on that below). The last year will go down in the record books thanks to the efforts of Cheptegei.

The opening kilometer of 2:42 was too slow for Cheptegei. He went to the front and told his pacemakers to pick up the pace. They responded as they helped take him to the halfway point in 13:23. That put him one second shy of the road 5K world record, however, he still had another 5K to run.

Cheptegei reached nine kilometers in 23:49, putting the world record well within his reach. He crossed the line in 26:38, adding to an already impressive year. Prior to Cheptegei's world record run, he won the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, won the 5,000-meter Diamond League final and won the 10,000 meters at the IAAF World Outdoor Championships.

The women's race was won by Linn Nilsson of Sweden in 32:53.

The marathon saw both men's and women's course records fall. Ethiopians Kinde Atanaw Alayew and Roza Dereje came away the winners in the Spanish city.

Alayew clocked 2:03:51 to become the 16th man to break 2:04 as he took 39 seconds off the course record. Finishing behind him for podium spots were Kaan Kigen Ozbilen of Turkey and Guye Adola of Ethiopia in 2:04:16 and 2:04:42, respectively. Ozibilen's time broke Mo Farah's European record. In all, four men ran under 2:05.

The women's race proved to be even deeper as four women broke 2:19 and five broke 2:20. Dereje ran 2:18:30 to take top honors. She was followed closely by Ethiopia's Azmera Abreha in 2:18:33. Completing an Ethiopian podium sweep was Birhane Dibaba in 18:46.

Helping make the race the deepest ever through five places were pre-race favorite Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and Zeineba Yimer of Ethiopia. Cheruiyot returned from injury to place fourth in 2:18:52. Yimer finished fifth in 2:19:28.