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BLUEGRASS 10K: MEN

Korir makes it two in a row

Kenyan missed chance at his country's Olympic trials, goes all out to win

By Eric Lindsey

elindsey@herald-leader.com
Jacob Korir crossed the finish line to win the 2008 Bluegrass 10,000.
Charles Bertram | Staff
Jacob Korir crossed the finish line to win the 2008 Bluegrass 10,000.
Eastern Kentucky University's Jacob Korir, pulling away from the pack on Richmond Rd., repeated his last year's win at the 32nd annual Bluegrass 10,000 meter race Friday in downtown Lexington. Runners start the Bluegrass 10,000 in wet conditions. Check back Friday afternoon for searchable results.
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Jacob Korir won’t get the chance to compete for his native country, Kenya, in the 2008 Summer Olympics, but he got a consolation prize by winning the 32nd annual Bluegrass 10,000 on Friday.

Korir, who didn’t get a chance to try out for the ­Kenyan national team because of visa problems, easily defended his 2007 title with a time of 30:30, a minute slower than the event record set in 1983 by Mark Nenow.

He also stretched to nine the streak of Kenyans winning Lexington’s 10K.

“I came here to defend my title that I won last year, and I expected a challenge,” Korir said. “I realized that most of the guys were out to set the pace, so I decided to push it as hard as I could and beat my time from last year.”

Korir stayed in a five-man pack until about the beginning of the third mile.

As he made the turn onto Main Street near the front of the Herald-Leader building on a dreary and rainy morning, Korir glanced at his watch. It was time to make his move.

“I was trying do 5:10 every mile because I haven’t really done a lot of long runs, so it was a good chance to set the pace and see how I could do on the road.”

After that, the only competition Korir had came from second-place finisher Jeremy Zagorski, who finished 59 seconds behind Korir. Zagorski, 22, a graduate student at

UK, admitted that he was in over his head against Korir.

After battling multiple injuries throughout his college career, just to be able to run in the race, much less finish second to an Olympics-caliber runner was gratifying enough.

“I wasn’t expecting much,” said Zagorski, who was competing in just his second career 10K race and his first Bluegrass 10,000. “It’s July 4th, I haven’t done any workouts, just all distance runs, so to come out and put my body through that … was a very positive experience.”

Greg Queen won his fourth consecutive crank-wheelchair crown at the Bluegrass 10,000 with a time of 22:56.

Queen competes in about three races a year. He said he hasn’t lost a race since shifting over from the standard wheelchair four years ago.

Paul Erway from Shelby­ville was the only male competitor in the standard wheelchair division. He finished in 40:47.