Anniston, AL – Vincent Kiprop overall winner, Esther Gitahi top female in the RRCA’s National 5K championship. White Plains’ Conn third overall female.
By Joe Medley
Vincent Kiprop and Esther Gitahi have been named national champions in the 5K following the 42nd Woodstock 5K. Maddyn Conn looked ready to defend in her class 4A Alabama high school cross-country title.
Kiprop won the race overall, winning the Road 5K run of the Road Runners Club America’s national championship in 14:37. 24 seconds less than the record set in 2012. Gitahi completed the race in the front of Anniston High School in 16:48 and placed 24th overall.
Conn Conn, the White Plains High School standout was third in the female category who finished in 19:00. She was just 23 seconds ahead of second-place winner Joy Miller.
1139 runners signed up in Woodstock’s Woodstock 5K as well as the Kidstock 1-mile run. 1,070 registering for the 5K, and 921 runners finishing the race on Anniston’s famous course. Results are available at this page.
Organised in conjunction with the Anniston Runners Club, the Woodstock was the RRCA’s national 5K championship for the sixth consecutive year and the first time since the year 2018.
As she enters her junior term in the school of White Plains, Conn hopes to be the state’s champion for the second time in succession. Conn finished the previous 4A state championship in 18:59.61 and was crowned the winner by just 27 seconds.
“I am so desperate to beat the 18:59 record at State,” Conn said.
Conn’s top three Woodstock time on Saturday was the best in the area for runners. Conn shaved 43 seconds off her third-place finish in 2022.
“The initial mile went fairly quickly,” he said. “As soon as I was completed with the mile mark, it began to go uphill I thought”I’m going to slow it down..’
“After I was over that, I was determined to be strong and finish solid.”
Conn along with the rest of her White Plains teammates also won the fastest and largest female team awards.
In terms of the overall winners they are both Kenyans who reside within America. United States.
Kiprop Kiprop, a native of Kapkitony, Kenya,
He took bronze in the Junior race of the 2007 World Cross Country Championships, finishing in ninth place during the 2009 Worlds and seventh in the 2009 World Athletics final. He won a significant 5,000-meter win in the 2009 IAAF Diamond League circuit, winning the British Grand Prix.
Kiprop was a participant in the RRCA’s Run-Pro Camp, competed for the University of Alabama and lives in Tuscaloosa.
His hometown is known by Rift Valley, a practice place for some of the world’s most elite distance runners. But the Woodstock newcomer was able to find the woodstock’s hills course to be quite challenging.
“Those hills were extremely hard,” he said. “The most recent one was the most brutal since I didn’t think to see it. … Comparatively to the conditions in our home country it’s more substantial.”
Kiprop 28 beat 2nd-place winner David Too, also 28 who’s pursuing a Master’s education in Florida A&M, by 28 seconds. 3rd-place finisher Andy Smith, a Birmingham native who is from Nashville, Tenn., was a mere five seconds behind Too at 15:10.
Gitahi 25-year-old Gitahi born in Nakuru, Kenya, competed for the University of Alabama and earned All-America recognition in the 5,000 meter run. She participated during Kenya’s East Africa Games and Kenya national cross-country and track championships during her high school years.
By Woodstock race director Hayley Long, Gitahi turned down an invitation to visit the media tent after race for interviews.
RRCA Executive Director Jean Knaack praised Long’s work.
“Good race directors make everything appear flawless for the racers and viewers,” she said. “They truly nailed it..
“The amount of runners was amazing for a 5K race in Northeast Alabama in August. It’s great. The community spirit surrounding this race is incredible. I have been to races across the country and I enjoy this race because the people really come out and participates and they also sponsor and help out.”
