Great day for the 2010 Admiral Swansea Bay 10k

Sept. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- The Admiral Swansea Bay 10k is the biggest 10K in Wales and was rated 3rd best in the UK by Runner’s World magazine in 2007 and the top 10k in the UK the same year saw its largest ever field of 3600 entries taking part in the main event with many hundreds in the junior races.  Entry capacity was reached for the main race prior to the latest closing date for the 5th consecutive year, with many more applications turned away.

After last year’s event which saw visa problems preventing many foreign athletes competing and Burundian Jean Ndyasenga winning in the slowest ever wining time of 30.11 race director Nigel Jones (celebrating his 25th consecutive year as event race director), was determined to raise the bar back to some of the glory days of previous years and had assembled a quality elite field.

Despite late withdrawals by last year’s winner Ndyasenga and Kiplimo Kimutai who had finished second at the Great North Run the week before, a clutch of elite athletes were still present.  They were all keen to break Felix Limo’s existing course record of 27.39 and win the Ford Focus or £11,250 on offer for doing so.

Since the last European winner way back in 1990, when Chris Robison of England took the title, Kenya has led the way excepting wins for Morocco’s  Olympic great Khalid Skah in 2001, South Africa’s Hendrick Ramaala in 1999 and Jean Ndyasenga from Burundi in 2009.

Normal service was resumed again this year with a clutch of Kenyans once again reasserting their usual dominance over the tried and tested course from St Helens ground to Mumbles and back, which runs the last half of the course along the original route of the World’s first passenger railway service which disappeared way back in 1963.

Limo’s course record of 27.39 from 2002 looked to be under real threat early on with the main three Kenyans of the elite field all having personal  bests of under 28 minutes and the fastest time ever set in the UK set at the Great Manchester Run in 2007 by Micah Kogo of 27.24  also looking a possibility .

From the outset eventual winner Edwin Kipkorir with compatriots Gordon Mugi Muhugu and Edwin Kipyego established themselves as a breakaway unit ahead of the rest of the chasing pack with 2k reached in 5.26 and the pace still staying fast with 3k reached in 8.11.

By 4 kilometres there was a slight break by Kipkorir and Muhugu who opened a 40 metre gap on 3rd placed Kipyego who himself was by now well clear of the rest of the field.

Both leading men had announced their intentions that they had come to win the car on offer and both have impressive records on the UK circuit this year leading up to the race.

Kipkorir had previous road victories in the Great North 10K at Sunderland along with wins at the Blackburn 5 and Sale 10 on his athlete’s CV whilst Muhugu had been impressive in winning the Robin Hood Half Marathon earlier in the month along with setting a new course record of 28.29 at the Bristol 10k in May.

Not to be forgotten the 3rd of the leading trio had himself been impressive in his win at the Reading Half Marathon earlier in the year and the Bristol half marathon earlier this month to also prove his pedigree.

By the turn, reached in 13.52, at Oystermouth the leading duo had stretched their lead to about 60 metres over Kipyego who was still hanging on.

At this point the car on offer was still under threat although the time was now a full 15 seconds off Limo’s corresponding split time when he set the course record but a sub 28 minute time was still a definite possibility.

Returning along the seafront however the runners had to contend with a slight headwind and the pace had now dropped with 6k reached in 16.52.

Between 8k (22.48) and 9k (25.48) Kipyego had battled hard to close the gap on the leaders and with just under a kilometre to go actually moved into the lead.

This however was very short lived and seemed to spur on the previous leaders with Kipkorir pushing the pace to establish a lead which was growing as he approached the finish to win in 28.31 to be about 10 metres clear of Muhugu (28.37) with Kipyego fading after his valiant efforts to catch the leaders but still staking a very respectable 28.39 for 3rd place but at least had some consolation by finishing leading Male under 21.

The first 3 men‘s times now place them at 11th,13th and equal 14th respectively on the all time Swansea lists

Further confirmation of how fast the race was this year came in another course  record by Edwin Kipyego (Kenya) in 3rd place for the Junior Man (under 21) category with a new best time of 28.39 beating the previous best of 28.57 by fellow Kenyan Julius Kibet set back in 2001.


Following on in his second sub 30 min time in a fortnight was Cardiff’s Michael Johnson in 4th running for Wales who won the £150 on offer for first Briton home ahead of Morpeth’s Nick Swinburn in 5th running for the North (30.16), Moroccan Hicham Ettaichmi (30.29) in 6th and 7th placed and 3rd Briton James Smith of Leeds in the North team in 30.39.

One of the star men’s performances of the day however has to go to evergreen Mike Hager of Tipton who returned a stunning Vet over 60 time of 33.47 for 35th place overall and a new course record which was a full 5 minutes faster than the existing course record and was only 15 seconds shy of Vet 40 winner Robert Palmer of Luton’s winning time.
Having consulted the www.arrs.net website it is believed that Mike’s run will constitute a new M60 world best performance, eclipsing the 33:51 by Patrick Roussel (FRA) in Narbonne in February 2008.(Mike’s DOB = 6 Sep 1950) although this requires formal ratification

In the womens race despite the late withdrawal of leading Britons Caroline Hoyte and Michelle Ross-Coppe, Kenyan Rehab Ddungu’s 2004 record of 32.36 came under real pressure at one stage but Kenyan Miriam Makewa eventually ended up missing out by 13 seconds winning in a time of 32.49 which was still the second fastest female time in the event’s history.

This made it a winning weekend for Ian Ladbrooke’s stable with winners in both the men’s and winners races for the second consecutive year.

In second place Charnwood’s Gemma Steele followed up her second place in Cardiff 2 weeks ago with another great run and another sub 34 min time of 33.34 and also secured the first Briton home prize of £150 .This time was the 11th fastest women’s time in the history of the event and placed Gemma as 5th best Briton ever in the race

Bristol’s Kate Goodhead finished 3rd and second Briton in 35.13 just ahead of 4th placed Sarah Kiptoo of Kenya(35.21) and Tess Walker of Salford in 5th place and who was the 3rd Briton home (36.00)

The race also encompassed an Inter Area  match for both male and female teams from Wales, The Midlands, and North of England  with Wales winners of the men’s event and also winning by default in the ladies due to withdrawals from the North and Midland teams leaving then with only 2 runners each.

Course Record Holder and last year’s winner Junior World Champion Daniel Lucker  defended his crown but was over a minute slower than last year in a time of 24.28.

Ladies wheelchair winner for the first time in a time of 33.58 was Julie Hamzah.

Summing up the whole event up, Race Director Nigel Jones said, “Whilst the car was just out of reach, the times were still good into a headwind and this was a really competitive race. It was certainly one of the best races we have had for a while and the men’s race could have gone either way in the last few hundred metres.
The ladies record for a good part of the race looked as if it was going to be broken but with the second fastest time ever, a possible new M60 World Record and a new Under 21 male record I can’t complain how things have gone today!“

Full race results and links to see photos of the runners can be found on http://www.swanseabay10k.com

# # #

News about activities, events and attractions in Swansea, Wales, UK.

Includes offers and information about leisure centres, gyms and sport; also museums, galleries, parks, shows and events in Swansea.