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Running is as defining a part of Kenyan culture as hockey is to sa国际传媒, cricket to India and rugby to New Zealand.
It鈥檚 hard to think of one without the other.
That is evident twice a year on the streets of Victoria, each spring in the sa国际传媒 10K and each fall in the Victoria GoodLife Fitness Marathon, as Kenyan runners have dominated both events and will do so again today in front of a pack of about 9,000 participants in the 28th sa国际传媒 10K.
Jane Murage enters as the four-time defending women鈥檚 champion and fellow-Kenyan Daniel Kipkoech as the defending men鈥檚 champion. But they are racing with differing outlooks. Kipkoech was third last week amid the heaving humanity of the massive Vancouver Sun Run while Murage had to pull out of the Sun Run due to injury, but she hopes to be on beam today for a fifth consecutive women鈥檚 sa国际传媒 10K title.
These are streets and conditions both runners know well.
鈥淚 like the Victoria races because the weather is not too cold and not too hot. I like medium,鈥� said Kipkoech, also the three-time defending champion of the Victoria GoodLife Fitness Marathon.
Vying to take away his 10K title today will be Kenyans Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul, the 2013 champion and three-time winner of the Sun Run, and Soloman Rotich, who was third here last year.
鈥淚 know I will be pushed,鈥� Kipkoech said. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 worry about how the other competitors are racing. I focus on what I am doing and run my own race.鈥�
Twenty-nine-year-old Kipkoech recorded a time of 29:54 last week in the Sun Run and 29:42 last year in winning the 2016 sa国际传媒 10K.
鈥淚 will try to improve on that this year,鈥� said the lean, efficient pacer, whose personal best of 28:27 was recorded in the 2010 Peach Tree 10K in Atlanta.
A Kenyan citizen living in Lethbridge, Alta., Kipkoech hopes to represent sa国际传媒 in the 10,000 metres. 鈥淚t has been my dream since I was a boy to run in the Olympics,鈥� he said.
Murage, who won the women鈥檚 championship last year in 33:07 and whose personal best is 32:45, will also be challenged today. Hilary Stellingwerff of Victoria is a two-time Olympian in the 1,500 metres from London 2012 and Rio 2016, and was sixth in the Sun Run last weekend. Emily Setlack of Cold Lake, Alta., has represented sa国际传媒 at the IAAF world cross-country championships and ran a personal best 33:44 in placing fourth last week in the Sun Run, and was second last year in Victoria to Murage in 33:47. Lindsey Scherf of Palo Alto, California, is a former NCAA all-American from Harvard, who was third last year behind Murage and Setlack.
Prize money for the elites consists of $1,000 for the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 open winners and $500 and $250 for second and third places.
The top three Canadian men and women get $500, $250 and $125, as do the top three Island finishers. There are also cash prizes for top masters and juniors runners.
It might not seem like much, but most professional road runners exist on the fringes 鈥� and every little bit helps.
鈥淚t can help with groceries and rent, and help you stay in the game,鈥� said Ulla Hansen, a former multiple winner of the women鈥檚 race, and now director of the elite division of the sa国际传媒 10K.
Hansen understands the runners. The versatile athlete had an incredible range, from 800 metres to 10K, as she represented sa国际传媒 18 times internationally in track, cross-country and road racing, and was a three-time champion and nine-time medallist at the Canadian track and field championships and also a three-time Canadian 10K women鈥檚 road race champion.
While mostly concerned with the elites today, Hansen knows it is the average runners that provide the most colour in road races. Vertical integration has become the hallmark of the sa国际传媒 10K.
鈥淲atching the hundreds of runners preparing for the 10K on the roads in February, March and April has become a part of the rhythm of our city and Island,鈥� Hansen said.
All those roads lead to the starting line at Government and Belleville streets at 8 a.m. today.
