Gebre Gebremariam, captain of Team Africa, predicted that his squad would win the inaugural Peachtree Cup at The AJC Peachtree Road Race on Saturday.
With a first-place finish by Daniel Salel and a strong showing by its three female runners, anchored by Valentine Kibet, Team Africa edged Team USA for the win in the rain-drenched 10K race from Lenox Square to Piedmont Park. The six Africans completed the race in 3:06:29, followed by USA (3:07:35), Europe (3:09:49) and Asia (3:15:58).
“We knew the Team USA men were very hot, so at 6-7K, I turned to my teammates and said to push me,” said Gebremariam, who finished second on his team and sixth overall in 29:42.
Salel, along with Team USA’s Tyler Pennel and Christo Landry, broke away from the group four miles into the 6.2-mile race as the course began to turn uphill. Salel finished in 28:43. Pennel (28:45) and Landry (29:05) were soon followed across the finish line by teammates Robert Curtis and captain Shalane Flanagan, giving the U.S. team hope for a win on the Fourth of July.
“Everyone ran to their best capabilities,” Flanagan said. “You can’t control your competitors. The men ran phenomenally. I’m really proud of them.”
The difference came down to the team’s other two women. The African men outran the U.S. men by 28 seconds. The African women outran the U.S. women by more than two minutes. Kibet’s time of 33:27 was better than the last two finishers for the U.S. team, Janet Bawcom (34:10) and Rachel Ward (34:11).
Ward said she usually runs better going uphill and thought that she would be able to make up ground on the Africans toward the end of the race. But when it came to go, she said she had nothing and after the race said the humidity may have affected her. Her time was a minute and a half slower than what she ran in last year’s Peachtree Road Race.
“I’m really disappointed that my bad day was more than just a bad day for me,” Ward said. “This has been such an incredible experience. It’s so inspiring, so fun.”
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