FALMOUTH — Wesley Kipto saw to it that there was very little drama in the men’s race at Sunday’s 51st Asics Falmouth Road Race.
Racing in his first Falmouth, the 10-time All-American out of Iowa State ran away from the elite field and was all smiles as he dashed across the finish line of the beloved 7.1-mile race. His time of 31 minutes and 8 seconds equaled the course-record performance of Gilbert Okari in 2002.
Kipto averaged a blistering 4:27-per mile to lead a field of more than 10,000 runners over the rolling layout from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights. The win earned Kipto a purse of $10,000.
John Korir ran a quick 31:34 for second, outkicking Edwin Kurgat over the final hill in Falmouth Heights. Crowd favorite Ben Flanagan of Canada, who won the last three titles, was competing in the 10,000 at the World Championships and didn’t run.
The race was a fast one in the cool conditions as 11 men broke 33 minutes. David Kiprotich Bett of Kenya was a solid fourth in 32:01 and Clayon Young of Provo, UT, rounded out the top five with his 32:02.
Kipto, who will debut in the marathon at Chicago in the fall, found the conditions to his liking as he built a 30-meter lead with a 4:17 opening mile shortly before Nobska Point. He concentrated on driving into the hills and then using the downhills to recover. Kipto looked fluid with the fast pace and he continued to press. His lead grew to 40 yards over Korir and Kurgat at 2 miles (8:41). Kipto never let up as he continued his torrid pace along Surf Drive with consecutive miles of 4:28 and 4:24. By the time Kipto reached 5 miles (22:01) it was clear that his two challengers weren’t going to put together any late-race heroics to close on Kipto around Falmouth Harbor and the long hill on Grand Ave., leading to the Heights.
“My plan was to just go from the gun and have fun,” said Korir. “I’ve been doing a lot of tempo runs lately that have felt good. I really liked the course. It was a lot of up and down and I love hills. I wanted to run balanced on the hills and not go too hard on them.”
Kipto had a broad smile as he took the right onto Clinton Drive, taking in the cheers of the spectators at the side of the road. “I just wanted to show them some love,” he said. “There was a big crowd and I wanted to make them proud.”
Korir was slowed by a muscle spasm in his back that he said acted up near 2 miles. “Maybe I’ll come back and try to beat him,” said Korir, who is from the same village in Kenya as Kipto.
Hellen Obiri also came away victorious in her first Falmouth. She drew away from an impressive field by 2 miles and finished in 35:13, a 5:02-mile pace. American record holder in the marathon (2:18:29), Emily Sisson of Providence, RI, worked her way through the field and sprinted across the finish line for second in 35:32. Molly Seidel, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Games, continued her recovery from injuries to finish a strong eighth in 36:44.
Sisson was very pleased with her performance coming off 110-mile weeks of marathon training for Chicago. “I’m in the middle of marathon training so I didn’t want to go out too slow,” said Sisson. “I didn’t know if I’d have the wheels at the end to turn over. There was a pack in front of me most of the way, but I was able to overtake them at six miles. I told myself to stay foucused and stay engaged and pretend I’m at the end of a marathon. It was mentally pretty tough when you see someone ahead of you that you have to reel in. I was pretty tired last week so it gave me a lot of confidence that I could come out and be able to run well.
“Hellen kind of took off and dropped a sub-5 mile and my legs just couldn’t go with her. It’s a beautiful course and the atmosphere is amazing. The finish was so loud and I couldn’t hear how close the next person was to me. It’s a beautiful area. You’re really not taking it in when you’re racing. You can really see it after when you’re jogging.”