BENGALURU: The continuous overnight rain made one wonder if the elite men and women racers would be able to deliver their best in the 14th edition of the TCS World 10k Bengaluru on Sunday. With the rain stopping just an hour before the women's start, the route was still wet and some areas witnessed a few puddles on the road as well.
Despite the conditions, Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir and Irene Cheptai stole the show, setting a new course record enroute to their gold medal in the elite men and women's category. The former clocked 27:38s to break Geoffrey Kamworor's record (27:44) of 2014 while Cheptai finished at 30:35 to smash late Agnes Tirop's record of 31:19. Interestingly, Kipkorir trains alongside the previous record holder in Kenya. Amongst the Indians, Parul Chaudhary and Abhishek Pal won gold with a timing of 34:38 and 30:05 in the women and men's competition.
“When I reach back home in Kenya, I will tell Geoffrey about this new record of mine and I hope he will be happy for me,” said Kipkorir, who felt he was in good shape for the race in Bengaluru.
The men's competition among the foreigners was tight with the other two podium finishers — Ethiopia's Tadese Worku (27:43) and Kenya's Kibiwott Kandie (27:57) breaking the 28-minute mark as well. However, it was not a walk in the park for Kipkorir, who was constantly challenged by Worku. Early on, it was Reynold Kipkorir, who was leading the race for the first half, but Kipkorir, running alongside Worku, felt the need to push and did so in the last two kilometers, and especially in the final 300m at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, which played an important role in achieving a new record.
“I was not expecting to break the course record because at the halfway stage or so, I felt that it was too slow (timing). I tried to stay with Tadese (Worku) around the eight km mark and then I began to push further,” said Kipkorir.
In the women's competition, it was mostly a two horse race as expected with Chetpai, who is the 2017 champion, and Hellen Obiri in the lead for the majority of the race with nothing separating the two. They even entered the stadium together, and that is when Chetpai gave a final push to ensure she wins her second title in Bengaluru.
"When I entered the stadium for the final lap, I was fearing Hellen and kept pushing my speed to win,” said Cheptai. Obiri (30:44) and Joyce Tele (31:47) finished second and third, respectively.
Though there were no new Indian records, Parul delivered to hold onto her lead and win the race in the women's competition. Sanjivani Jadhav and Komal Jagadale finished with silver and bronze with a timing of 34:44 and 35:28. Meanwhile, it was a close race amongst men as the difference between the first three remained one second only. Pal (30:05), Kartik Kumar (30:06) and Gulveer Singh (30:06) ensured a tight finish.