The auspiciously named World’s Best 10K in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sun., March 1, featured very close finishes as Sammy Kitwara, 28, of Kenya and Belaynesha Oljira, 24, of Ethiopia each won by a second!

Kenyans actually swept the top four places in the men’s race as Kitwara edged his countryman John Mganui, who’s 26 years old, 28:51 to 28:52, with Stephen Sambu, also 26, finishing third and Julius Kogo, 29, fourth as they were both given the same time – 28:56.

Thus the top four finished within five seconds of each other, all under 29 minutes. That’s competitive road racing at its best! 

The first American to finish was Ben True, 29, of Hanover, N.H., who was sixth in 29:19.

Ethiopia’s Belaynesha Oljira had Cynthia Jerothia, 25, of Kenya breathing down her neck at the finish of the women’s race as they clocked 31:57 and 31:58 respectively.

Another Kenyan, Betsy Saina, 26, who’s based in Denver, Colo., finished third in 32:07.

Setyaiju Ejigu, 29, of Ethiopia was fourth in 32:26, and Gemma Steel, 29, of England fifth in 32:52.

Beverly Ramos, 25, of Puerto Rico broke through the foreign legion in the women’s race to finish ninth in 33:50.

It takes a heap of good running to live up to a name like World’s Best 10K, and on this occasion the racing lived up to the name. There were 9,488 finishers in this year’s race.

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