CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine --  Joseph Kimani of Kenya, who holds the world
record in the 10K, overpowered some of the top elite runners in the
world on Saturday, Aug. 5 to win the Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K Road
Race in Cape Elizabeth.  Kimani is strongly considering a run this year
in the LaSalle Banks Chicago Marathon.
    Kimani, last year's runner up, pulled away from world-class field with
a 4:11 fourth mile and crossed the finish line in 28:07, 13 seconds ahead
of Simson Limareng of Kenya.  Defending champion Khalid Khannouchi, the
world record-holder in the marathon (2:05:42 at Chicago last year), returned
from injury to compete in his first race on American soil as a U.S. citizen.
He finished fifth (28:39).
   True to form in the three-year history of the Peoples Beach to Beacon
10K, the women's race came down to another neck-and-neck finish -- with
this one the closest yet.  Defending champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya
edged U.S. Olympian Libbie Hickman in a finish that required a ruling by
a team of judges, including referee Steve Vaitones, a certified USA
Track & Field official.  Both runners, with identical official times of
32:19, thought they had won, but Vaitones and the other judges
determined Ndereba reached the finish first.
     More than $50,000 in prize money was awarded to the top 10 runners 
for the men and women, including $7,500 for the winner and $5,000 for the
second-place finisher. A field of 4,000 competed.
     Other top finishers among the male elite runners included William
Kiptum (3rd, 28:21), Reuben Cheriuyot (4th, 28:37), Abel Ondeyo (6th,
28:42), Hezron Otwori (7th, 28:54) and German Silva (8th, 29:04).  Other
top women finishers included Natalie Nalepa (3rd, 32:28), Jane Ngotho (4th,
32:37), Svetlana Zakharova (5th, 32:40), Anne Marie Lauck (6th, 33:11),
Wilma Van Onna (7th, 33:23), Yuko Arimori (8th, 33:28) and British
Olympian and two-time Chicago winner Marian Sutton (9th, 33:36).