Amon Kemboi (13:50) & Annie Rodenfels (15:33) win 2025 Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K

NEW YORK — Kenya’s Amon Kemboi and American Annie Rodenfels both kicked best to win tactical races at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K on a brisk Saturday morning in Central Park. Kemboi, 29, who trains with North Carolina-based Puma Elite, ran 13:50 to outsprint Cole Sprout (13:51) and Anthony Rotich (13:52), while Rodenfels (15:33), who found herself slightly gapped during the final mile, rallied during the last 400 and kicked away from American half marathon record holder Weini Kelati (15:34) and 2024 World Indoor 3K champion Elle St. Pierre (15:35) to win this race for the third consecutive year. Unlike the last two years, however, this year’s race did not serve as the US road championships, which resulted in smaller elite fields (just eight men and eight women) — though the women’s race featured five Olympians, including Parker Valby and Alicia Monson.

We have a separate article coming with an update on Valby, who finished 4th in 15:37 in her first race since February after missing almost all of her first professional season due to a foot injury. Monson, on her own comeback trail from injury, struggled and finished 8th in 16:22. Results and takeaways from the other top finishers are below.

Kevin Morris photo

Men’s Results

Women’s Results

Annie Rodenfels has moved to Boulder and says she is moving up in distance

Rodenfels’ track accomplishments pale in comparison to the likes of Kelati, St. Pierre, and Valby, but she has a formidable kick and is always in shape this time of year. She has experience on the New York course and said that even when she was slightly gapped late, she knew she still had a shot at the win.

“I love coming back here,” Rodenfels said. “I never count myself out, no matter who’s in the race.”

Rodenfels is now based in Boulder, sponsored by Salomon, and is being coached by Juli Benson after joining the Meridia team launched by Colleen Quigley. She said that she is planning on moving up in distance — a half marathon seems likely, perhaps in Houston in January — but next month’s US Cross Country Championships are not in her plans, even though she is fit right now.

“I like cross, but I’ve never loved it,” Rodenfels said. “I thought about doing it, but it just doesn’t work out with the races I want to do.”

Weini Kelati isn’t sure whether she will run the USA XC Championships

Kelati, who won this race in 2021 and 2022, was second today after just getting outkicked by Rodenfels at the end. From here, Kelati will run the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving — where she will aim for a record fifth straight victory — and then will have a decision to make. She would like to run a fast half marathon next year and lower her 66:09 American record, but part of her also wants to run the US Cross Country Championships on December 6, with World XC in Tallahassee on January 10. Kelati was the top American at the last World XC Championships in Belgrade, finishing 15th in 2024.

“I’m thinking about it,” Kelati said of USA XC. “I haven’t decided, but I feel like I want to do it.”

Looking further ahead, the 28-year-old Kelati said she is getting ready to make the move to the ultimate distance, so expect to see her make her marathon debut next fall. New York, which her Under Armour teammate Sharon Lokedi won in her debut in 2022, seems like a good bet.

Elle St. Pierre is feeling good again in her first race back after baby #2

After her first son, Ivan, was born in March 2023, St. Pierre bounced back quickly, running 4:23 at the Fifth Avenue Mile six months later and winning the World Indoor 3K title six months after that. St. Pierre said that comeback meant she knew what to expect this year after giving birth to her second son, Harvey, in May. It’s been very similar, with the main difference being that the checkmarks have been shifted back by two months. So instead of returning at Fifth Ave, she returned today for the 5K.

“I felt pretty good, to be honest,” said St. Pierre, who said she resumed running about three weeks after giving birth. “I was a little surprised that I felt so smooth the first half. That last mile was a little bit of a grind, just didn’t quite have it for the surge at the end. But I was very happy.”

St. Pierre, the 2024 US 5,000 champion, said she does not plan on running USA XC but is looking forward to a full indoor season, where she is planning on running the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Millrose, USAs, and hopefully World Indoors.

Amon Kemboi claims another road victory to cap strong 2025 season

Kemboi won one of America’s most prestigious road races, Falmouth, in August, and claimed another win today in his first race since then. The former Campbell/Arkansas runner has had a strong 2025 season, setting PBs in the mile (3:53), 5K (12:58), and 10K (27:31). His goal for 2026 is to get under 27:00.

Cole Sprout has moved to Eugene and is now training under Jerry Schumacher

The top American on Saturday was 23-year-old Cole Sprout, who finished his eligibility at Stanford in the spring (he was 12th in the NCAA 10,000) and recently made the move up the coast to Oregon, where he is training under Jerry Schumacher as part of Nike Swoosh TC Eugene. Sprout said he has basically been doing marathon training recently, some of it with his former Stanford teammate Charles Hicks, who will debut in New York on Sunday.

Sprout doesn’t plan on doing a marathon right away, but he does think he’ll focus on the roads as a pro. He is running Manchester on Thanksgiving and is looking at a half marathon early in 2026 but won’t do USA XC and isn’t thinking of running a marathon anytime soon.

Sprout was a high school star and had some very impressive performances early in his Stanford career — he was 15th at NCAA XC as a 19-year-old freshman and ran 13:24/27:42 at age 20 but has yet to improve on those PBs. It will be interesting to see if he can unlock that potential under Schumacher.

Patrick Kiprop is the newest member of the On Athletics Club

Since its founding in 2020, the On Athletics Club has largely focused on the track, with the notable exception of marathon star Hellen Obiri. But in 2025, Joe Klecker has moved to the roads, the group has brought in Laura Thweatt as an assistant coach, and has signed marathoner Ryan Ford and Arkansas alum Patrick Kiprop, who was 6th today and said he will be targeting the World Road Running Championships in 2026. The road to US citizenship is long, so Kiprop said he will be looking to represent Kenya in that event.

Abdihamid Nur says he is feeling like his old self again, planning on running USA XC

Nur did not run well today — he was dropped midway through and finished 7th of 8 in 14:14 — but chalked that up to feeling under the weather when he woke up on Saturday.

“I felt low on energy and weak,” Nur said. “This morning, it was just hard for me to get food down. I don’t know if it was something I ate or something I woke up with, but not the result I wanted.”

In general, however, the 2023 US 5,000m champion is feeling good about where he’s at. He tore the posterior tibial tendon in his left foot at last year’s Olympics, and the recovery was arduous. He did not even start jogging again until January and only raced three times this year before today, dropping out of USAs in August. But Nur said that he is happy with the progress he has been making this fall.

“I was consistent; I wasn’t at the volume or training that I’m usually at during the fall,” Nur said. “But I’m about, I’d say, 80% close to that. I’m really, really grateful for this fall of consistency and feeling like my old self coming back.”

Nur said he and training partner Nico Young are both targeting USA XC next month (Parker Wolfe, another training partner, is TBD), and that preparing for an XC race in the fall has felt like college again.