In the 42nd running of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race, with the finish line in sight on Monday, Kenya’s Sammy Kitwara pulled away from Mathew Kisorio, and won his second Peachtree title.
Kitwara finished the 10-kilometer event in 28 minutes, five seconds -- 43 seconds off his first-place finish in 2009. Kisorio, who led most of the race, crossed in 28:07.
The hot and humid conditions from the race’s start slowed much of the elite field. The top runners traveled in a pack for much of the race, a style that played to Kitwara’s strengths.
Kitwara’s road-racing specialties range from the 10K to the half-marathon distances. Kitwara earlier this year had won two 10K races in Puerto Rico, in 28:47 and 27:35, respectively.
Kitwara was one of two open men’s runners competing for Professional Road Running Organization bonus money after winning the World’s Best 10K in February. With the Peachtree win, Kitwara won $15,000 and earned an additional $10,000 in purse money from the PRRO.
Although the top four male finishers represented countries outside of the U.S., the Peachtree also was a showcase for American talent, hosting the U.S. Men’s 10K Championships for the fourth time in race history.
American Ben True captured the championship title in 28:28, good for a fifth-place overall finish in the Peachtree. True was coming off a 10th-place finish over 5,000 meters at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Ethiopian Werknesh Kidane, a two-time Olympian, won the women’s division of the road race in 31:22, beating Kenyan Alice Timbilili to capture her first Peachtree. This was Kidane’s Peachtree Road Race debut, but the Ethiopian is a seasoned veteran in the 10K. In 2004, she represented her country in the same distance at the Olympic games in Athens.
Adriana Nelson was the first American woman to cross the finish line with a time of 32:49. Nelson ran the 2009 Peachtree as a Romanian, but became an American citizen in early April. She had a sixth-place overall finish in the open division.
Krige Schabort won the wheelchair division of the Peachtree Road Race with a time of 19:47. It was the fourth Peachtree win for the Cedartown native, who was first in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
“Winning the Peachtree, it never gets old,” Schabort said. “The feeling is amazing.”
Schabort’s wife and children were on hand to see his finish. He has one win for each of them, he joked.
“It’s not only out of the head that wants to race,” Schabort said. “You have to give it your heart as well.”
It was a repeat outcome in the open women’s wheelchair division, with Tatyana McFadden capturing the title again in 24:46.
“I took it from the beginning,” McFadden said. “I needed to focus on my strengths: I was thinking about pushing hard, staying relaxed, and breathing.”
The wheelchair division featured 79 racers this year, including 58 men.
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