Projo Sports Blog

BY CAROLYN THORNTON
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE – They both started off the 2007 racing season with a flourish, and Simon Ndirangu and Shalane Flanagan finished on Sunday in much the same fashion at the 18th annual CVS Caremark Downtown 5K.

Competing against a record field, Ndirangu, a promising 21-year-old runner from Kenya, held off defending champion and teammate Richard Kiplagat to win the men’s title in 13 minutes, 45.6 seconds.

Flanagan, a 26-year-old Marblehead, Mass. native, easily captured the women’s overall crown – and thus, the USA Women’s 5K Road Race Championship, as well – with her winning time of 15:25.2.

The men’s national 5K crown went to Dan Browne, of Beaverton, Ore., who finished third overall among the men in 13:47.5 – a half second behind runner-up Kiplagat.

Coming off a very busy and very productive track season, Flanagan was heavily favored to sweep the women’s titles in her debut at the Providence race. Earlier this year, the 15-time University of North Carolina All-American and 2004 U.S. Olympian for 5,000 meters won her second USA Outdoor 5,000-meter championship and her first USA Indoor 3,000-meter title. She had also established American records at both distances -14:44.80 for 5,000 meters and 8:33.25 for 3,000 meters.

Despite nearing the end of a long season of racing that began in January, Flanagan made Sunday’s win seem effortless.

''I just got out to what I thought was a decent pace,’’ she said. ''I think the first mile was like 4:45, so it was pretty quick, and I just settled in and made sure to just conserve a little energy. Then before I knew it, I looked down at my watch and we were at about 12 minutes. I knew I had about 3 ½ minutes left, so I kicked it in hard.’’

Her success this year was all the more rewarding, Flanagan said, given that she had missed the entire 2006 racing season while recovering from surgery to have an extra bone that was discovered in her left foot removed.

''To go from the point in my career where I was questioning whether I’d even be able to run again - because there was an extra bone and the surgery was pretty invasive - to come from an extreme low to an extreme high, I feel very fortunate to have the season I’ve had,’’ she said. ''This is my third national championship this year, and it’s always nice to be home and finish the season close to family.’’

Also making her debut here, Sara Slattery - a former 10-time All-American at the University of Colorado – finished second in 15:41.2, 3 seconds ahead of Ethiopia Olympian Meskerem Legesse.

''I was looking at (Flanagan’s) back the whole way, but I had trouble in the middle (of the race),’’ Slattery said. ``It’s hard because you can kind of get cut off at certain points [by the male runners], so I kept trying to stick right on it, but once I got gapped, the gap kind of stayed the same the whole way and I couldn’t close it. I just tried to run hard and finish strong at the end.

''I’m happy with it,’’ she said of her performance. ''I mean, you always want to win, but I think that I ran a strong race. I learned a lot from it, about where I am in my fitness, so I’ll take that for the next year and try and do better. I’ve wanted to run this race for a long time, and I was really excited to run it this year. I would love to be able to come back and win it.’’

Bursting onto the U.S. road racing season with a victory at California’s Carlsbad 5000 (13:28) back in April and coming off a win at the U.S. 10K Classic in Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend, Ndirangu ran a tactically smart race en route to yet another victory Sunday.

Running for KIMbia Athletics, he went out hard from the start along with fellow countrymen Nelson Kiplagat, Richard Kiplagat, Boaz Cheboiywo and Stephen Koech. With Nelson Kiplagat about 10 yards ahead of the four other Kenyans, the lead pack hit the first mile in about 4:19.

Not far behind was a second pack of American runners that included former Brown standout Patrick Tarpy, Jonathan Riley, Bolota Asmeron and Browne.

By mile 2, Tarpy (who ultimately finished seventh in 13:53.4) caught up with the leaders and a short time later, so did Browne.

Although Browne has been gearing all of his training toward the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, to be held in New York City in November, the 32-year-old discovered that he still had enough speed to stay right in the thick of things. About halfway along Memorial Boulevard, he, Ndirangu and Richard Kiplagat pulled away from the others, and together they made the turn up Francis Street for the final uphill climb to the finish.

''I definitely was working hard right from the beginning,’’ said Browne. ``But right about the end of the second mile I was starting to feel good and worked my way up into the (lead) group. Then I found myself in the lead with about 250, 300 meters to go, and I just pushed as hard as I could up the hill. They started moving by me heading toward the top and I just hung on.’’

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