Lead pack includes Laban Kipkemgoi, no. 49, 4th; Simon Rono, behind Kipkemgoi; winner John Korir, center front, hand over number; Wilson Kigen-Kipkemboi, no. 40, 3rd; Boaz Cheboiywo, no. 10, 11th, 1st Michigan finisher; Tekeste Kebede, no. 8 (disqualified).
FLINT (8/23/03) - Two hot road racers got even hotter on this perfect day for running at the Crim Festival of Races. Forget the unusual 62-degree temperatures and low humidity. When you're hot, you're hot and no one was hotter than John Korir of Kenya and Lyudmila Biktasheva of Russia.

Korir, 27, ran shoulder to shoulder with three of his countrymen and Ethiopian Tekeste Kebede from just after the five-mile mark, where a series of steep hills dropped nine runners from what had been a pack of 14.

And they were shoulder to shoulder coming around the last turn onto the bricks of Saginaw Street downtown.

It was a long, gradual downhill to the finish. "I was ready to kick," said Korir, who won here in 1998 and 1999 but hadn't been back since. Boy, was he ever. He inched bit by bit away from his rivals, thrust both arms into the air and crossed the finish line in 46:22, two seconds up on James Koskei, 34, three up on Wilson Kigen-Kipkemboi, 23, and 10 up Laban Kipkemboi, 25.

Kebede, 24, seemed to have finished fourth, but moments later he and countryman Abraham Assesfa, 31, were disqualified. They had got stuck in the crowd at their downtown hotel and weren't at the starting line when the gun sounded. They jumped into the lead pack as it went by them and missed the first 30 yards of the race.

Korir's kick gave him first-place prize money of $5,000 and continued a streak that included wins at this summer's Cherry Blossom 10-miler, Crescent City Classic 10K, Lilac Bloomsday 12K, Utica Boilermaker 15K and, two weeks prior to Crim, at Falmouth.

Biktasheva, 29, didn't need a kick to win, but if she had used one she might have had Cathy O'Brien's 14-year-old course record of 51:47. Biktasheva ran with Leah Malot, 31, of Kenya over the first five miles, throwing in surges to soften her rival along the way. The Russian then took off on the three tough, steep hills on Bradley Street and was all alone from there.

Biktasheva backed off a gear down the finish, waving and smiling to the large crowd as she approached the tape. Her time of 51:52 beat Malot by 65 seconds.

Catherine Ndereba had won five straight Crims and six overall, but was in Paris this year for the world track and field championships.

Biktasheva, in her first Crim, ran faster than Ndereba ever has here. When asked if she would have liked to race Ndereba, Biktasheva, an Olympic 10,000-meter finalist in 2000, said, "I'm not concerned about names. The race goes to the strongest."

She was the strongest here, just as she was this summer at Lilac Bloomsday, Bay to Breakers and the CVS Cleveland 10K. Jackson Kipngo'k, 42, of Kenya, crushed the master's course record of New Zealand's John Campbell by 30 seconds, finishing fifth overall in 47:25, good for $1,000 in open-division prize money and $1,200 as top master. He beat master rival and fellow Kenyan Andrew Masai by nearly two minutes. "I'm improving each week," said Kipngo'k. "Masai beat me at Peachtree, I said, 'Fine,' and went back and trained very hard, concentrating on speed."

Ramilia Burangulova, 42, of Russia was top women's master in 57:27, beating six-time masters queen Tatyana Pozdnyakova, 48, of the Ukraine by 28 seconds. American Cindy James, 43, was third master in 1:00:03.

The top two American men were from Michigan - Kevin Doyle, 23, of Rochester Hills, 18th overall in 49:19, and Kyle Baker, 27, of Mason, 19th in 49:41. Two of Doyle's teammates with Team Hansons, an Olympic-development program, made the top 25 - Mike Fox, 24, 22nd in 50:04, and Trent Briney, 25, 24th in 50:16.

Oddly, the top state runner beat the top American. Boaz Cheboiywo, 25, of Kenya, an All-American at Eastern Michigan and former NCAA cross-country and 10,000-meter champ who is seeking American citizenship, qualified under the rules as a state resident and won $800, finishing 11th overall in 48:17.

It was the first time he had run as far as 10 miles in competition. "I went with the leaders for five miles, then I was dead," said Cheboiywo. "Those hills killed me."

Cheboiywo student-taught social studies and geography at Saline High School in the fall, and coached the school's cross-country team.

Nicole Jefferson, 27, of Maine, was the top American woman, 13th overall in 57:25, with local star Seana Larson, 33, of Dexter, the second U.S. woman and top state runner, 17th overall in 58:53.

"I'm thrilled," said Larson, who ran collegiately at Wake Forest for John Goodridge, who also coached Cheboiywo at EMU. "I wanted to go under 59 minutes and I did. And it was a PR by 38 seconds."

Patricia Murray, 32, of Livonia, was second state woman in 1:00:15 and 20th overall, with April Likhite, 31, of Birmingham, third among state runners and 21st overall in 1:00:49. Laura Ankrum, 30, of Grand Blanc finished fourth and 22nd in 1:02:02, and Sarah Plaxton, 35, of Highland, fifth and 23rd in 1:02:11.

It took Likhite an hour to run the race, and weeks to finish third. Huh? She didn't show up on the computer list of finishers because of a technical glitch, but on Sept. 10 Crim officials announced they had corrected results and awarded her prize money of $250.

State money was $800 for first, then $400, $250, $150 and $100. The correction dropped Ann Stewart of Ann Arbor, 24th overall, out of the prize money.

Krige Schabort of South Africa won $1,000 as top male paraplegic wheelchair racer for the third year in a row. Miriam Nibley of Champaign, Ill., won $1,000 as top woman para; and John Brewer of Kaysville, Utah, won $1,000 as top quadriplegic.

More than 6,500 ran the 10-miler, with about 14,000 running or walking in one of the Festival of Races' events, which included a 1-miler, 5K, 8K and Teddy Bear trots for kids.

In the 5K, three of the top four women were members of the Goodrich High cross-country team. Rachel Graybill, 33, of Detroit, set a course record of 18:09 to win, followed by the 14-year-old O'Mara twins, Kayla (18:14) and Kaitlin (18:49). Then came teammate Janee Jones, 17, in 19:12.

Bill Monnett, 23, of Sterling Heights, led the men in 15:50, passing Robert Cole, 21, of Sanford, with 100 meters to go and winning by six seconds.

An era ended in the 8K when Eric Green, 35, of Pontiac, finally won. He had vowed way back in 1988 that he wouldn't move up to the 10-miler until he won the 8K. He had five top-five finishes and was runnerup in 1999, 2000 and 2002. He just had to run faster, that's all.

Green's 26:24 this year was eight seconds ahead of David Vandermeer, 24, of Wyoming and a full 54 seconds faster than he's ever run the course. Masters champ Dave McCauley, 40, of Rochester, was third in 28:15.

Kelly French, 28, of Barrie, Ontario, led the women in 31:25, with Jennifer Furlong, 22, of Allen Park second in 31:37 and Kelly Sampson, 16, of Detroit, third in 31:41. MR