Now anyone outside of Canada could probably make a case that this post should be called "Go Kenya Go", but lost in the dominance that was Kenya at the World Cross Country Run Championships was the unreal result by Canada's running superstar Simon Bairu.
Simon Bairu first made headlines in January when he soundly beat America's golden boy Ryan Hall at the Phoenix Half-Marathon. But arguably he had a better result at Sunday's World Senior Mens Cross Country race, where he finished 13th overall. 13th may not sound great, but it is the best result by a Canadian in the Senior Mens race ever. Plus he was only 17 seconds from 5th place. And he was the first non-African runner in the race (and the top American was only 36th) in a field of over 130 runners. Bairu was born in Saudi Arabia but moved to Canada when he was 4 and grew up in Regina. So I don't think we should discount that he didn't finish Top 10. An absolutely amazing result for Bairu as he continues to prepare for his marathon debut this fall. He is easily my favorite Canadian runner right now and will continue to keep you posted on his progress!
By the way, Canada did send full teams of 6 runners in both Junior races (Bairu was our only Senior runner). Congrats to Mohammed Ahmed (27th in the junior mens race) and Chelsea Graham (who went to McNally High in Edmonton and finished 34th in the junior womens race). Congrats to all our runners who represented the maple leaf so proudly.
Ok, a quick note on the Kenyan dominance. For the first time ever, Kenya won every race at the weekend championships(both individual and team classifications at all 4 races). And they won the senior men's race for the first time since 1999. But even those two stats couldn't sum up how good they were. In the junior men race, Kenya finished 1-2-3-4 (and all 6 runners finished in Top 11). In the junior women's race, it also went 1-2-3-4 and all 6 runners in the Top 9. Senior women - 1-2-5-6 and all 6 finished in Top 14. Only in the senior mens race was it not a total dominance and they still finished 1-4-7-8-9 and their last runner finished 19th and will probably be forced to run for another country in the future. Just kidding.
Check out these pictures to witness the dominance...
Lots more on Friday!!
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