Former San Silvestre Vallecana 10km champion Daniel Ebenyo Simiu has attributed his slow run due to the heavy win that has affected his faster time despite winning the Valencia Ibercaja 10km road race in Valencia Spain.
Simiu, who won the men’s title in 26:58, failing to break the world record set by compatriot Rhonex Kipruto in 2020 at 26:24 but failed to defend his title after winning the National Police service cross country title on Friday at the Ngong Racecourse, ending the dominance of three time world cross country champion Geoffrey Kamworor.
Simiu said that two things made it difficult to break the world record but vowed to do it next time.
The first thing is that the race did not have pacemakers that made him run a slower pace.
“I was well prepared to run my best time but lack of pacemakers made me run slower. If we had pacemakers, I could have run the fastest time ever but that is now behind me and changed my focus,” said Simiu.
The second disadvantage is that the course was windy, which pushed him to slow down, especially at the middle of the course.
“At 7km, I faced head-on heavy wind that forced me to slow down and failed to achieve that target but I must thank God for the win,” he said.
The Iten based runner under tutelage of Erick Kogo has now set his focus on the world indoor championships. But he will be looking forward, if handed an opportunity to compete for Kenya at the Agnes Tirop Memorial World Cross country Tour to be held at the Lobo Village in Eldoret, Kenya.
“After the race, I need to go back to the drawing board to see what is next for my career. If I will be given a chance to compete at the World Cross Country, it will be good. Though my focus is on the world indoor championships,” said Simiu.
It was another victory for women when former world junior 2,000m steeplechase champion Norah Tanui Jeruto won the title after competing in the race for four years consecutively.
The Africa 3,000m steeplechase champion clocked 30:35 for the title ahead of Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal for the second in and Kenyan Gladys Chepkurui for third position.