Janet Cherobon-Bawcom lined up Thursday morning with a lot in common with the rank and file of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race.
She has volunteered at the Peachtree. She has run all kinds of local road races, from the Charles Harris Run for Leukemia in Tucker to the Run the Reagan Half Marathon in Gwinnett County. The difference is that Cherobon-Bawcom, now living in Flagstaff, Ariz., somehow used that avocation as a springboard to the 2012 Olympics and, on Thursday, to another U.S. national championship.
The 34-year-old finished eighth overall among the women and was the top American finisher, the latter a prize worth $10,000 as the Peachtree doubled as the 10-kilometer road-race championship for USA Track and Field.
“I guess God has a plan for everybody, for sure,” Cherobon-Bawcom said.
She was a local favorite among the major winners Thursday. The men’s open winner was Mosinet Geremew, a 21-year-old Ethiopian. Added to the field last week as a substitute as the elite field shrank with injuries and other race commitments, Geremew emerged out of a three-man pack that included defending champion Peter Kirui of Kenya to sprint away down 10th Street for the title. He won in 28 minutes, 7 seconds, two seconds ahead of countryman Belete Assefa and four ahead of Kirui.
The women’s open winner was Kenya’s Lineth Chepkurui. She won her third Peachtree, making her the fifth woman to win the world’s largest 10K race three or more times. After leading most of the race, she ran away from countrywoman Sharon Cherop to win in 32:09, a second ahead of Cherop.
“It was so tough,” Chepkurui said. “I’ve never kicked like that.”
The men’s U.S. champion was 31-year-old Matt Tegenkamp, a two-time Olympian making his transition to road racing. Tegenkamp joined the lead pack around the four-mile mark, using his strength to outlast the American competition as the course completed its uphill second half. Tegenkamp was sixth overall with a time of 28:25.
“I look forward to coming back,” said Tegenkamp, from Portland, Ore. “The welcome here has been fantastic. Being part of a race 60,000-people strong, runners really around the world — our military runs in this race in conjunction at their appropriate times — it really is a fabulous event.”
The open wheelchair winners were Manuela Schar of Switzerland for the women (24:42) and Canadian Josh Cassidy for the men (21:26). Cassidy almost didn’t enter the race, he said, because United Airlines lost his wheelchair when he flew home to Toronto after a race last week. After canceling his flight to Atlanta, he was reconnected with his wheelchair Wednesday night and rebooked a flight, arriving near midnight. He competed on just a few hours’ sleep.
In 2000, Cherobon-Bawcom came to the United States to run on a scholarship at Harding University in Arkansas and study to become a nurse. She graduated in 2005, gave up running and moved to Georgia with her husband to continue her studies at Georgia Highlands College in Rome. Along the way, she found her way back to road races at the urging of the runners on the Greater Atlanta Christian cross-country team that her husband, Jay Bawcom, coached.
A funny thing — Cherobon-Bawcom started to win and earn prize money. After she won $1,500 for winning a half-marathon in Alpharetta, she said, “I thought maybe I should keep doing this.”
In 2011, the same year she became a U.S. citizen, they decided to move to Flagstaff so Jay could attend Northern Arizona and become a registered nurse. With limited employment options for Janet, the plan was for her to commit to running full-time. In 2012, she made the U.S. Olympic team. Thursday’s race was her eighth U.S. national title, at various long distances.
“So that’s why I’m telling you it’s been a blessing,” she said. “I don’t regret any part of it at all.”
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