A new kind of race came to Indianapolis Sunday, August 11 – and as could be expected, it was fast!

The Double Road Race™ Indy was the event, Julius Koskei and Lyudmila Stepanova  provided the dramatics, as they each shattered the existing world records in the Double.

 Julius Koskei of Kenya, now living and training in Hebron, Ky., ran an aggregate time of 44:31:09 for the 10K and 5K of the Double, breaking the previous men’s world record of 45:15:05 set by Tyler McCandless in the Overland Park Double on June 30 by almost 45 seconds!

 Koskei, who’s 31 and a full-time professional runner, ran the 10K in 29:48 and the 5K in 14:43. Tyler McCandless had run the 10K in 30:16:50 and the 5k in 14:58:55.

 This was the first time anyone has run the 10K in under 30 minutes in the Double – and that is no mean achievement, considering that in the Double you still have the 5K to run after you complete the 10K!

Koskei’s young teammate Robert Wambua, 22, also of Kenya, posted an aggregate time under the previous world record as well, running the 10K in 30:06 and the 5K in 14:50 for an aggregate time of 44:57. This was 18 seconds under the previous world record.

 The third-place finisher in the men’s division at Indianapolis – and the first American – was Matthew Proctor of Indianapolis, representing the Ujena Fit Club, who recorded an aggregate time of 47:43 (32:05 for the 10K and 15:37 for the 5K).

 Lyudmila Stepanova, a 29-year-old Russian runner also living and training in Hebron, Ky., bettered the women’s world record for the Double, posting an aggregate time of 52:38:06. The previous world record of 53:13:04 had been set by Molly Pritz in Overland Park.

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