ETHIOPIAN TEAMS LOOK HARD TO BEAT AT BOLDER BOULDER 10-K
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission

Monday's 31st running of the Dick's Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder 10-K in Boulder, Colo., will feature the 12th edition of the race's unique International Team Challenge, and the Ethiopian squads will be hard to beat.  Teams, which are comprised of three athletes from the same nation plus British Commonwealth and Colorado state squads, are scored using traditional cross country scoring, and the top male and female teams will earn $15,000.  There is also individual prize money and time bonuses to further sweeten the pot.

Ethiopia scored a scant 11 points in last year's competition, handily defeating their traditional rivals Kenya by nine points.  Although only one of their athletes will return this year, Gebo Burka who finished third, the newcomers are top-notch: Tilahun Regassa and Tadese Tola.  Regassa won both the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10-K and Cooper River Bridge Run 10-K earlier this year, and was second at last week's ING Bay to Breakers.  Tola smashed the Central Park record for 10 km at last Saturday's Healthy Kidney 10-K (27:48) and is clearly in excellent shape.

The Kenyan men's team is also strong, led by veteran John Korir, fifth at Bolder Boulder last year, who will have support from Charles Munyeki (8th at Bolder Boulder 2008) and Philemon Terer Kiplangat.  Team USA has two sub-28:00 10,000m runners on its squad, James Carney and Fasil Bizuneh, plus Bolota Asmerom, fourth at last year's USA Olympic Trials at 5000m.  Mexico (Alejandro Suarez, Juan Romero and Teodoro Vega) should also contend for the podium.

On the women's side, the Ethiopian squad is also very strong, led by 2009 Chevron Houston Marathon champion Teyba Erkesso, who also won last Sunday's ING Bay to Breakers 12-K.  Ashu Kasim Rabo, fourth at last month's Paris International Marathon in her debut, is also competing as is the lesser-known Mamitu Daska, fourth at last year's CIGNA Falmouth Road Race.

The Ethiopian women should get their biggest challenge from the Romanian and Kenyan teams.  The Romanians, who won the team title last year with 18 points, have put marathoners Lidia Simon, Adriana Pirtea and Elena Daniela Cirlan on their team. Both Simon, the 2000 Olympic Marathon silver medalist, and Pirtea live in the Boulder area giving them a slight advantage from not having to travel and comfort with Boulder's mile-high altitude.  The Kenyans have Caroline Cheptanui Rotich, Millicent Gathoni and Jane Wanjiku Gakunyi.  Gathoni was the race's individual champion last year.

In 2008, the Dick's Sporting Goods Bolder Boulder 10-K was the largest fully-timed road race in the United States, recording 47,318 finishers, according to the trade group Running USA.  It may be surpassed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race this year which, for the first time, plans to time all of its finishers.  The Peachtree had 55,000 entrants last year.

Women       
       
        Athlete
1. Team USA        Tera Moody
        Alisha Williams
        Carrie Messner
       
2. Kenya        Caroline Cheptanui Rotich
        Millicent Gathoni
        Jane Wanjiku Gakunyi
       
3. Mexico        Dulce Maria Rodriguez
        Nora Rocha
        Violeta Rene Gomez Mayoral
       
4. Ethiopia        Teyba Erkesso
        Ashu Kasim
        Mamito Daska
       
5. Team Colorado        Meagan Lund
        Annie Toth
        Danielle Korb
       
6. Romania        Adriana Pirtea
        Daniela Cirlan
        Lidia Simon
       
7. Japan        Tomo Morimoto
        Kiyoko Shimahara
        Hiromi Ominami
       
8. Peru        Santa Ines Melchor
        Julia Rivera Lopez
        Jemena Helen Misayuri
       
9. Poland        Dorota Gruca
        Edyta Lewandowska
        Aleksandra Jakubczak

10. Russia        Marina Ivanova
        Natalia Sokolova
        Lyubov Denisova

Men   
   
Country    Athlete
1. Team USA    James Carney
    Bolota Asmeron
    Fasil Bizuneh
   
2. Morocco    Mouchine Outaleb
    Abdelaziz Atmani
    Abdelmoutain Harroufi
   
3. Kenya    Charles Munyeki
    Philemon Terer Kiplangat
    John Korir
   
4. Mexico    Alejandro Suarez
    Juan Romero
    Teodoro Vega
   
5. Ethiopia    Gebo Burka
    Tilahun Regassa
    Tadese Tola
   
6. Ecuador    Vladimir Guerra
    Miguel Almachi
    Byron Piedra
   
7. Team Colorado    Edwardo Torres
    Jason Hartmann
    Fernando Cabada
   
8. Commonwealth    John Yuda/Tanzania
    Open
    Ewen North/England
   
9. Peru    Constantino Leon Lopez
    Paulino Canchanya
    Gobin Alex Condor

Wheelchair       
    Men    Women
    Santiago Sanz    Shirley Reilly
    Saul Mendoza    Amanda King
    Sean Eres    Christina  Ripp
    Ryan Barnett    Dawna  Callahan
    Matthew Porterfield    Jenny Goeckel
    Tom Ottenwess    Ariadna Hernadez
    Gonzalos Valdovinos   
    Sam  Zachariah   
    Dennis Gordon   
    Brad Ray