Kenyan duo come out on top in the Brasov Running Festival event in Romania
The tRUNsylvania 10km at the Brasov Running Festival 2024 saw victories for the Kenyan duo of Daniel Kinyanjui and Loice Chemnung on Sunday (Sept 22).
Course records didn’t fall on this occasion at the World Athletics elite label event, Romania’s premier road race, but both contests were still thrilling affairs, with Kinyanjui and Chemnung prevailing after sprint finishes in 27:08 and 30:13 respectively.
The 19-year-old Kinyanjui showed what a talent he is in his debut at the distance by pulling away from Morocco’s Hicham Amghar and the tRUNsylvania 10km defending champion Weldon Langat, also from Kenya, with just under a mile to go.
His surge from a long way out proved to be decisive and he maintained his form in the closing stages of the race to upset the odds, despite Kinyanjui’s two challengers closing with the line approaching.
“This has to be the best day of my life,” said Kinyanjui. “My training had been going well in Kenya and I had some good times over 10km in training, but I still didn’t know what to expect as this was my first race in Europe.
“However, I knew I wanted to run faster than I had done in training. The pace at 5km (13:38, which meant improving on the 2022 course record of 26:51 by Kenya’s Nicolas Kipkorir was starting to look unlikely) was the pace I wanted, and I felt very comfortable. I think I would have even been happy if the pace had been 13:20.
“I was still feeling great at the start of the third [of three] lap. I did a little move at 7km as the group was quite big but at 8km I decided to go again because I wasn’t sure my kick was as strong as the others, and I decided to be brave at the front.”
Kinyanjui’s bravery paid off and he ended the morning $5000 richer, the first prize in the tRUNsylvania 10km.
Behind Kinyanjui, Amghar also ran the race of his life and produced a Moroccan record of 27:09, outkicking Langat who was given the same time.
No less than nine men in the top 10 ran personal bests, all finishing inside 27:40; and there was a South African record for Maxime Chaumeton who ran 27:36 in ninth.
Loice Chemnung (Brasov Running Festival)
A slow first half of the women’s race, with 5km passed in 15:19, meant an anticipated sub-30 finish disappeared from view. However, passing halfway was the cue for Janeth Chepngetich to make her move and try to break away from the leading group of 12 women.
Her change of pace had the affect of splintering the pack. Seven women were still together at the start of the third lap but only the eventual winner Chemnung went with Chepngetich when the latter surged again with three kilometres to go.
Chepngetich, the 2024 All-Africa Games 10,000m champion who just missed out on Olympic selection when she finished fourth in the Kenyan 5000m trial for Paris, continued to force the pace for much of the next two kilometres but with about 300m to go Chemnung went through the gears and her compatriot had no response.
Behind Chemnung, who crossed the line in 30:13, Chepngetich was six seconds in arrears in 30:19 while Judy Kemboi finished third in a personal best of 30:29 to complete an all-Kenyan podium.
No less than 10 women went under 31 minutes with six of them getting personal bests.
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