10.000 in New York’s Central Park (16.05.2010)

A record field concerning the performance as well as the amount of athletes ran today through the Central Park at the 6th UAE Healthy Kidney 10 K Run.

The 10 K race, which was supported by the UAE, led in a big loop through the surprisingly challenging park. The fastest times were even more surprisingly. Those were set in the last years by mostly African gazelles. An amount of 20.000 US Dollar was the bonus for that guy who would be faster than 27:42. And today there should be a lucky athlete. The Ethiopian Gebremarian was the fastest one 2010 and broke the record by 6 seconds. He led a group of African and other world-class runners from all over the world. That the level of performance was really high showed the fact that almost 20 athletes were able to break the magical mark of 30 minutes. But also as a woman someone had to be quite quick to be in front. The victory went to Buzunesh Deba an American with African origin who ran 33:09.

Some of the athletes of Team Abu Dhabi Triathlon had the honour to follow an invitation of Abu Dhabi to that event. So Faris Al-Sultan, Jan van Berkel, Ina Reinders and Werner Leitner travelled to the east coast. Ina just decided a day before the departure to come with the other guys.

The function of everyone was pretty clear. Jan should be the fast guy in the team. He was aware that he could not keep the pace of the specialists but he should give his best. Motivated by the big amount of world-class runners he started the race quite ambitious. But he was surprised by the tough course and could not keep his speed. In the end he had a time of 32:05 but it was a great experience for him.

Faris reason for flying to New York was more a representative one. His injury caused no problems any more but he did not want to run the risk that it gets worse again. So he did not run the 10 K in full speed. He felt no pain any more in his pelvis, which was more than a victory for him. That means that he can start a regular training.

Of course the main reason for the trip was the race. But if a competition takes part in a city like New York it has to be explored. That happened and the entire trip became an unforgettable team event.