Kingston Classic 10K

Kingston NY/USA

Web Site: www.kingstonclassic.com

Race Winners (25 runnings)

30 Apr 2006	30:28	Woorku Beyi, 19 (KEN)	35:21	Aziza Aliyu, 20 (ETH)
1 May 2005	30:23	Elarbi Khatabbi (MOR)	35:57	Claudia Camargo (ARG)
18 Apr 2004	30:46	Paul Mwangi (KEN)	36:34	Brandee Boice (MA)
27 Apr 2003	29:48	Elarbi Khattabi	37:04	Marisa Hanson--2
21 Apr 2002	30:27	Mike Mamo (ETH)	36:14	Marisa Sutera-Hanson (NY)
22 Apr 2001	30:44	Amos Gitagama (KEN)	36:26	Lucia Subano (KEN)
30 Apr 2000	30:06	Paul Mbugua--4	35:40	Zofia Wieciorkowska (POL)
17 Apr 1999	29:32	Elijah Kitur (KEN)	34:59	Milka Jepchirchir (KEN)
26 Apr 1998	29:39	Paul Mbugua		Milka Jepchirchir (KEN)
27 Apr 1997	28:55	Paul Mbugua		Christine Sisting
28 Apr 1996		L'houssine Siba--3	33:38.6	Lori Hewig--4
09 Apr 1995	29:16.9	Paul Mbugua (KEN)		Amy Herold-Russom (NY)
10 Apr 1994	29:11.9	L'houssine Siba		Lori Hewig
04 Apr 1993		L'houssine Siba (MOR)		Lisa Vaill--3
12 Apr 1992	30:00.3	Tijani Rahoumi (MOR)	35:14.5	Lori Hewig
07 Apr 1991		Mike Nahom (CT)		Lori Hewig (NY)
08 Apr 1990	29:42.8	Brent Barnhill (PA)	34:01	Lisa Vaill
09 Apr 1989	30:23.44	Dominic Colose (NY)		Lisa Vaill (NY)
10 Apr 1988		Steve Kogo--2		Kathy Brandell-Champagne--2
12 Apr 1987		Steve Kogo (KEN)		Kathy Brandell-Champagne (NY)
06 Apr 1986		Pat Porter--2		Denise Herman (NY)
21 Apr 1985		Pat Porter		Cindy Gerard
1984	28:50	Greg Meyer		Missy Iaturo (NY/USA)
10 Apr 1983		Hailu Ebba, 18 (ETH)		Lori Wood (NY)
1982	29:21.11	Jon Sinclair	38:41.4	Patti Lyons-Catalano (MA)

Most Wins (1982-date)

Men

4

Paul Mbugua

1995, 1997-98, 2000

Women

4

Lori Hewig

1991-92, 1994, 1996

1982-The first one is run in semi-frigid temperatures as flurries badger the 329 who sign up. Jon Sinclair is the first men's champion in 29:21.11. Massachusetts native Patti Lyons Catalano, the nation's top female distance runner at the time, wins the women's race in 38:41.4. There are 314 finishers.

1983—For the second year, weather is the top story. A downpour soaks the 468 who enter and rain leads to confusion at the starting line where some 40 runners, including many elites, begin nearly 100 yards behind the rest of the field. Hailu Ebba and Lori Wood of Saugerties were the winners.

1984—Boston Marathon champion Greg Meyer outruns Sinclair, while women's champ is Tri-Valley High girls cross-country coach Missy Iaturo of Grahamsville.

1985—Temperatures reach the mid-80's and take a toll on the field. Pat Porter and Cindy Gerard reach the finish line first.

1986—Porter repeats, holding off Kingston High standout Charlie Bevier. Denise Herman of Saratoga wins the women's race as runners again deal with rain.

1987—Dick Vincent takes charge of the race after Bob Bright ends his run. Appearance money for elite runners is gone and so are the elite runners. Albany's Steve Kogo and Kathy Brandell-Champagne dominate on the newly configured course.

1988—Kogo and Brandell-Champagne are repeat champions, Brandell-Champagne missing her course record by 4.1 seconds.

1989—Despite a light snowfall early in the morning which later turned to drizzle, 990 runners finish. Dominic Colose of Albany wins the men's race, while Lisa Vaill becomes the first area woman to win since Lori Wood.

1990—For the first time, the entries surpass 1,000 runner. Vincent tweaks the course again, eliminating a loop in uptown Kingston with numerous turns. Brent Barnhill of Pennsylvania breaks Kogo's record, finishing in 29:42.8, while Vaill repeats as the women's champion.

1991—In sweltering 82-degree heat, Mike Nahom of Connecticut outlasts Itamar DaSilva, while Lori Hewig wins her first women's title with Vaill training in Florida for the 1992 Olympic Games.

1992—A record number of registrants (1,395) and finishers (1,246) highlight the race. Hewig becomes the third women's repeat champ in 35:14.5.

Tijani Rahoumi (30:00.3) is the men's winner, defeating fellow Moroccan Khalid Kairouani by three seconds. Doug Tumen and Charlie Lawrence take over as co-race directors.

1993—L'houssine Siba, Moroccan native and Kingston resident, becomes the first area winner in the men's race. He shatters the course record, beating Nahom by 20 seconds. Vaill wins the women's race and becomes the first three-time winner.

1994—Siba, not favored, uses a tremendous kick to hold off New Paltz's Paul Mbugua in a new record time of 29:11.9. Hewig matches Vaill with her third win.

1995—After Siba falters, Mbugua beats Abidi Bouazza with a winning time of 29:16.9. Amy Herold-Russom upsets the women's division, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Vaill. The new course, mostly flat, proves popular.

1996—Hewig wins her unprecedented fourth title, setting a women's record for the new course (33:38.6). On the men's side, it was Siba over Mbugua, as Siba becomes the first three-time winner for the men.

For the first time, the race is run on the last Sunday in April in an effort to combat weather extremes.

1997—Mbugua sets a course record of 28:55 in the controversial finish with Siba. With Hewig sidelined by injury, the women's field was wide open and Christine Sisting emerged with the victory. It is Fran Palmieri's first year as race director, succeeding Tumen and Lawrence.

1998—Mbugua captures his third title and second in a row, finishing in 29:39 (4:47 pace) in a soaking rain. While runners and spectators are drenched, 806 runners and 66 five-kilometer walkers finish the race.

Siba, who was training in his homeland of Morocco, could not get back in time to compete. Milka Jepchirchir of Irvington, wife of third-place men's finisher Elijah Kitur, takes the women's race, holding off Sisting and Vaill.

1999—As Mbugua hoped for his fourth Classic title, Elijah Kitur outkicked the three-time winner and Paul Mwangi in the final half mile to win in 29:32. Mbugua clocked a time of 29:38, while Mwangi finished in 29:41 for the tightest three-way finish in the race's history. Kitur's wife, Milka Jepchirchir, won the women's race (34:59) for the second consecutive year, making it a clean sweep for the Kenyan runners. Zophia Wieciorkowska took second place in 35:49.

The race featured 987 entrants, many waiting until Sunday to commit, and 879 finishers. Palmieri later announces he would step down as race director.

2000—With the continuation of the race in jeopardy due to lack of a race director, George Regan and Andrew McCoy of USA Track and Field step in to oversee the race. After months of discussion, the race course is changed for only the second time, this one an "out-and-back" route traveling mainly on Hurley Avenue. In the race itself, Mbugua becomes the first four-time winner among male runners, holding off fellow Kenyan Ben Kimondiu by one second. Wieciorkowska turns the tables on Jepchirchir in the women's race, beating the defending champion by more than one minute.

Numbers-wise, 676 enter the race with 626 finishing to mark the lowest turnout in 14 years.

2001—Regan directs his second consecutive race, won by first-timers Amos Gitagama and Lucia Subano, both Kenyans who now live in Philadelphia. Mbugua finishes a distant second in the men's race, denied his fifth title, while defending women's champ, Wieciorkowska, is a no-show. Race time temperatures top 80 degrees for the first time in 10 years.

Numbers are down once again as 643 register and only 556 finish.

2002—Dick Vincent takes over when Regan decides to step down just two months before race day. Mike Mamo, an Ethiopian native living in Westchester wins the men's race in 30:27, winning by a significant margin over Mbugua. Marisa Sutera-Hanson is the women's champ in 36:14, holding off Lisa Vaill in the final strides on the track at Dietz. Despite entry forms getting out late, 648 runners register and 580 finish.

2003—Khattabi Elarbi, an Olympian from Morrocco, wins in a time of 29:48, the fastest time since Kitur’s win in 1999. One of the largest margins of victory in the history of the race, it is also the first sub-30 time on the Hurley Ave. out-and-back course. Marisa Sutera-Hansen, soon to turn 40, makes it two victories in a row, as she easily bests the women’s field in 37:04. The race was emotionally started by three-time winner and Kingston resident L’Houssine Siba, who had been severely injured recently in an accident.

2004—In his fourth Classic, Paul Mwangi of Ossining wins the race in a heat-slowed 30:46. Using his experience on the course, Mwangi runs a well-paced race to outdistance Rich Byrnes by 24 seconds. On the women’s side, the race is won in 36:34 by Brandee Boice, who competed locally in high school in the early 1990s. Emily Bryans repeated her second place finish, running faster than last year despite the heat. Willow Street continues its domination of the Club Team division, winning both the men’s and women’s titles.


Commentary provided by the Daily Freeman sports department staff!

Additions - Changes E-Mail Ed Neiles

Last Updated on 30 April 2006