The Uptown Classic 10K officially kicked off the seven-race marathon training build-up known as the RunTex Distance Challenge on Sunday morning, October 5.
Pre-race talk centered on a battle between Australia's Kim Gillard, defending champ Gilbert Tuhabonye of Austin and Kenya's Patrick Kiptum, but the showdown never materialized. Gillard ran unchallenged to win in 30 minutes, 25 seconds. Defending champ Jodi Hawkins (34:54) won the women's race.
Gillard moved in front of Tuhabonye two minutes into the race, en route to a speedy 4:43 first mile. From that point, Tuhabonye faded into the distance. Gillard was on a sub-30 pace through three miles (14:15) but found the second half a bit slower.
The race, run entirely within IBM's Burnet Road campus, turned out to be fairly difficult. "It's actually quite a tough course," said Gillard, who trains in Boulder, Colo. "From 3.5 miles to five miles, you're climbing the whole way."
Tuhabonye, the 2002 Austin American-Statesman Capitol 10,000 champ, finished second in 31:47. Master's ace Paul Zimmerman was third in 32:03.
Hawkins, who has been carefully building back up to race form over the past three years after learning she had osteoporosis, set the women's pace with a 5:22 first mile. Austin's Cassandra Henkiel posted a 36:10 for second place. Julie Luft (40:42) took the master's title.
 
 
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Gillard, Hawkins Win The Uptown Classic 10K
by Brom Hoban, 10/6/2003 |
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