2023 BAA 10K: Hellen Obiri (31:21) Holds On to Win as Gabriel Geay (27:49) Dominates
By Jonathan GaultBOSTON — Hellen Obiri likes to be at the front, leading the way. But in Obiri’s new career as a marathoner, it rarely makes sense for her to push the pace from the gun. So when she gets the chance to run a 10K, Obiri wants to run fast.
The 33-year-old Obiri, in her return to Boston two months after winning the Boston Marathon, went out hard in this morning’s B.A.A. 10K, gapping the field shortly after the mile mark and opening up a massive lead that grew to 21 seconds at one point. But sunny, humid conditions (75 degrees, 79% humidity, 68 dew point) scrapped any chance of a fast time and Obiri had to forget about the clock and focus on winning as she started to fade. In the end, she won by four seconds 31:21. Emily Sisson, who had hoped to challenge Shalane Flanagan‘s American record of 30:52 set on this course in 2016, was the top US finisher in 4th in 31:35.
In the men’s race, Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay, the runner-up in this year’s Boston Marathon, won convincingly in 27:49, 12 seconds up on 2019 NCAA XC champ Edwin Kurgat of Kenya. It was Geay’s second title in Boston after also winning the 10K in 2018.
Kevin Morris photo
As soon as the gun went off on Boston Common, Obiri was in the lead, and she took advantage of the shade in the Back Bay neighborhood to rip her first two miles in 9:46, dropping the rest of the lead pack. But as she made the right turn onto Commonwealth Avenue and into the morning sunshine, Obiri began to slow, and though her lead was growing, her shot at a fast time began to slip away, going 5:02-5:00-5:06 for her next three miles.
At 8k, Obiri led by 21 seconds and looked headed toward certain victory, but a combination of Obiri fading and an inspired late charge from Kenya’s Stacy Ndiwa led to an unexpectedly close finish. The 30-year-old Ndiwa, the 2018 Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medalist, was third 3rd at 8k and 28 seconds back of Obiri, but she almost erased all of the deficit by the finish, running her final 2k in 6:09 (4:56/mile pace) while Obiri could only manage it in 6:33 (5:16 pace). Ndiwa ended up running a two-second pb of 31:25 (her other pbs are 67:16 for the half and 2:31:53 in the marathon), but Obiri’s early work wound up paying off and she took the win and the $10,000 first-place prize.
“After 8k, it was like my body was so tired because maybe I went too hard from the start,” Obiri said. “But I said let me keep going. The most important thing was to win the race. Because after 5k, I saw, unfortunately, I wasn’t going to do a fast time here because it was too hot.”
Kevin Morris photo
Obiri’s 31:21 (5:02/mile pace) is actually far slower than the pace of her half marathon personal best (64:22, 4:54/mile pace) but this was a day where times meant little. Sisson has been training recently in nearby Providence and her workouts had told her she was in shape to threaten Flanagan’s American record (30:52), especially given the mild New England summer to this point. But humidity began setting in on Saturday and by race morning, Sisson had shifted her focus.
“All the workouts I’ve been doing that are 10k workouts have been going well, so we were like, let’s go for it,” Sisson said. “But then we saw the weather and we’re like, no, let’s just race.”
Other notable American results included Emily Durgin in 8th (31:57), Annie Frisbie in 11th (32:47), and Molly Seidel in 17th in 33:35 in her first race since February.
Geay was relatively conservative early in the men’s race, content to hang in the nine-man lead pack that passed 5k in 14:11. But he ripped his fourth and fifth miles in 4:19 and 4:25, respectively, opening up a lead that would only grow to the finish as he split 13:38 for his second half, great running for these conditions. On a day when many athletes struggled to approach their personal bests, Geay took 28 seconds off his road 10k pb set last year in his native Tanzania. Edwin Kurgat, who was 3rd in the B.A.A. 5K in April, moved up one place to second while 33-year-old Diego Estrada was top American in 5th in 28:19.
Results and analysis appear below.
Women’s results
Men’s results
Quick Take: Hellen Obiri was the class of the field, but this was a great run for runner-up Stacy Ndiwa as well
Obiri has been one of the best distance runners in the world over the last decade, and after medalling at the last five global outdoor championships on the track, it will be odd not to have her in the field at the World Champs in Budapest in August — the first Worlds she has missed since 2015 when she gave birth to daughter Tania.
“I’m gonna miss missing World Championships, but sometimes you have to give some opportunities to the young ones,” Obiri said. “So it’s a good move for me, but I’m gonna miss it. I’m going to miss it but I’m going to be so excited to watch other ladies doing their good work there.”
Obiri will have plenty of rooting interests in Budapest. Her On Athletics Club teammate Alicia Monson has been on fire in 2023 while Obiri’s former Kenyan rival Faith Kipyegon is still going strong. While Obiri is a long time removed from her middle distance days, it’s worth remembering how good she was in the 1500 — she owns a 3:57.05 pb (pre-super shoes) and earned the bronze medal in the 1500 at the 2013 Worlds in Moscow. Perhaps most impressively, she is 9-4 head-to-head all-time against Kipyegon in 1500s. Can anyone boast a better record than that?
Obiri hinted that a fall marathon announcement may be coming soon but said she still had to talk with her coach Dathan Ritzenhein before finalizing it.
Ndiwa deserves props for running a pb in such oppressive conditions.
Quick Take: Emily Sisson is excited for the Chicago Marathon and hoping to improve on her result from last year
Sisson, the 2021 US 10,000 champ on the track, has bypassed the track this summer as her focus is squarely on her next two marathons, Chicago in October (where she was announced earlier this week) and the US Olympic Trials in February.
Kevin Morris photo
“I do love the track, but I don’t think doing the work I need to do to get ready for a 10k on the track benefits me in the marathon,” Sisson said. “A lot of the really fast stuff, pretty much anything under 1200 meters, I don’t like how that makes me feel when I’m doing marathon builds.”
Instead of racing USAs, Sisson will continue racing on the roads this summer, where she will hope to crack the podium and maybe even earn a victory after taking 4th in her first two races (the New York Mini 10K on June 10 and now the B.A.A. 10K).
As for Chicago, Sisson said she is hoping to run better than she did in 2022. Considering Sisson was 2nd last year in an American record of 2:18:29, what does “better” look like for her?
“Someday I want to win a major,” Sisson said. “You never know. Sifan Hassan‘s in it this year. If they’re running 2:14 pace, I probably can’t do that. But you never know, in Chicago, you can get crazy weather. Maybe just competing well against whatever pack I’m in. I was on my own a lot in Chicago last year. So I’d like to just see if I can race some other people if it is the type of race where we’re a bit closer.”
Quick Take: World Marathon Majors take note, Gabriel Geay is headed to Sydney
Geay will stay in the USA for the next week ahead of the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, which he will run on July 4. More interesting is his fall marathon plan: Geay is headed Down Under to run the Sydney Marathon on September 17. Geay, a 2:03:00 man (#8 all-time) and the Boston runner-up, would have his choice of suitors for a race this fall, so he is a big get for Sydney, which is pushing for World Marathon Majors membership. Of course it helps that Geay’s agency, Posso Sports, is organizing the elite field.
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