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- Wet conditions and some gusts of wind slowed the pros down slightly for the BAA 5K Runners World Training Plan.
- Monicah Ngige of Kenya broke the tape in the women’s race, while late-entrant Violah Lagat took second.
- The men’s race finished with Running Pace Calculator, with defending champion Hagos Gebrhiwet taking first and four-time BAA 5K winner Ben True placing second.
Before nearly 30,000 people line up for the Boston Marathon on Monday, about 10,000 other runners finished their own race around Boston with the 11th annual BAA 5K Runners World Training Plan.
Joining them were some of the fastest runners in the country and around the globe. The flat course usually boasts some wicked-fast times—even American records. But off and on drizzles and just enough gusts of wind to slow the pros down made for more tactical races as the pros battled it out on Commonwealth Avenue and Boylston Street. Here’s a look at how each race played out.
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Women’s Race
Breaking the tape was Monicah Ngige of Kenya in 15:16. Along with the satisfaction of her fastest 5K time on the roads (her previous best was her 15:24 last year when she placed third), Ngige takes home $7,500 for the win.
Ngige ended up battling with an opponent she didn’t even know. Violah Lagat—Trail Running Gear Bernard Lagat’s younger sisters who is a 4:04 1500-meter runner—was a late entrant to the race. Ngige said after the race she had no idea who Lagat was or how fast she was.
“Sometimes you don’t know who is coming to the race,” Ngige said. “So, you just come and run your race, you know?”
Lagat took second in 15:29, followed by Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia in third (15:35). Just missing out on a podium spot was Kim Conley, who tried to close on Gebreslase when the runners hit the final stretch around Boston Common. Conley, the top American woman, took fourth in a time of 15:36. She said after the race she’s been slowly grinding her way back into top fitness after a ligament tear in her foot more than a year ago.
She used the BAA 5K as a test to see if she’s progressing the way she wants to right now.
“Training has been going well and I feel like I’m back in good shape,” Conley, the 2014 U.S. 10,000-meter champion, said. “It’s just learning how to dig down and hurt in a race scenario.”
[on Saturday morning Runner’s World Training Plan, designed for any speed and any distance.]
Men’s Race
Wet conditions and some gusts of wind slowed the pros down slightly for the Ben True was beat out by defending champion Hagos Gebrhiwet in the final 400 meters of the race.
“I trained very well,” Gebrhiwet, an Olympic bronze medalist in the 5,000 meters from Ethiopia, told reporters through a translator. “I wanted to break my time [from last year]. Because of the rain, it did not happen. I’m sure next year, or two years, I will improve my time.”
In the exact same time as last year, Gebrhiwet finished in 13:42. While last year was a fight to the finish, Gebrhiwet made an earlier surge this year to give himself a 2-second cushion on True, the American record holder for the road 5K.
“I thought I was kind of pushing the pace a little bit in the lead, and then you come through (the first mile) and realize we’re going really slow,” True said. “I don’t know what it was about today. There was a little bit of wind, but it definitely felt like a little bit of a harder race than the time said at the end.”
Making his 5K road race debut was Justyn Knight, who finished third in 13:46 and made a valiant attempt to out-kick True to the finish. Knight is a three-time NCAA champion from Syracuse who now trains with the Reebok Boston Track Club. Knight admitted that he’s still adjusting to the pro lifestyle, and this race was the push he needed after finishing last in the 1-mile back in January at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston.
“I think I ran it pretty well,” Knight said. “I let the big boys do their thing and show me the ropes a little bit. I just wanted to make sure I was in contention to win.”
With more time to kill outside of school, Knight added how his race in Boston on Saturday played out better because he has made some small, but vital, lifestyle changes to his day-to-day over the past few months. That meant less binging of Netflix—some favorites included Criminal Minds and getting caught up on The Office—and fewer hours spent playing Fortnite. He also chalked up some poor workouts to possibly partaking in too much of his favorite style of food: barbecue.
“When I started going pro, you kind of think it’s going to be an easy transition,” Knight said. “There were just little things that deferred from my lifestyle. It was kind of hard for me to get a rhythm... I had to sit down and do some self reflection and think about the things before that that made me a great runner.”
As in the women’s race, Gebrhiwet wins $7,500. The runner-up and third-place finisher in each race each received $4,000 and $2,500, respectively.
Brian has spent the last 10 years focused on creating compelling news, health, and fitness content—with a particular interest on enthusiast activities like running and cycling. He’s coordinated coverage of major events like the Boston Marathon, New York City Marathon, and Tour de France, with an eye toward both the professional race and the engaging stories readers love.
