Kalevan Kisat (Finnish Track & Field Championships) 2009: 10.000m – 31:23,93 (14th place)

August 2, 2009

Seasons Best in National Championships - That´s the way it should be. My time of 31:23 is not quite what I expected but the flu that hit me in the preparation and that caused some 10 days without speed training account to most of the 25 seconds that were missing to the 31-minutes barrier (my aim before the season).

The weather in Espoo was extraordinary. Most of the athletes that had their competition on Friday (just like me) were reminded to the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki 2005. Torrential rain in the evening session and several thunderstorms. Even if during the 10.000m race itself there was only drizzling rain, I was totally soaked after the warm-up. Also the track was very wet but otherwise I liked the track in the stadium. It was the first time I was running on a blue and white MONDO-track and it felt really good.

Also the race felt good and really enjoyed running the 25 laps. Usually it´s getting pretty tough after 6-7km but this time I felt good all the way. Nevertheless, I could not run a faster pace and rather felt like I could maintain the same pace for a longer time. A good sign for the marathon but not so good it terms of raw speed. The second 5000m were a bit faster than the first half and I could catch some guys in the later stages. Still I took “only” 14th place – for comparison: last year only 10 runners finished the 10.000m.

Full results of the race:
1 Lewis Korir Turun Urheiluliitto 28.46,68
2 Matti Räsänen Joensuun Kataja 29.03,73
3 Jussi Utriainen Lahden Ahkera 29.16,38
4 Obed Kipkurui Sjundeå If 29.34,90
5 Simo Wannas Helsingin Kisa-Veikot 30.24,75
6 Henri Manninen Jyväskylän Kenttäurheilijat 30.26,27
7 Anssi Raittila Viipurin Urheilijat 30.40,04
8 Juha Puttonen Jyväskylän Kenttäurheilijat 30.40,58
9 Mikko Tyni Haminan Ponteva 30.42,21
10 Pekka Toivola Joensuun Kataja 30.57,38
11 Joseph Tanui Lahden Ahkera 30.57,41
12 Juho Pirkola Kälviän Tarmo 31.08,54
13 Miika Takala Jyväskylän Kenttäurheilijat 31.08,93
14 Erik Hass Vaajakosken Kuohu 31.23,93
15 Marko Vaittinen Forssan Salama 31.26,26
16 Jukka Kero Turun Urheiluliitto 31.32,54
17 Joni Hulkko Jalasjärven Jalas 31.33,49
18 Arto Perttilä Vaasan Vasama 31.43,68
19 Harri Nissinen Imatran Urheilijat 32.30,45
20 Miika Henriksson Viipurin Urheilijat 33.22,69
Joni Rautio Lapin Lukko DNF
Petri Kykyri Kälviän Tarmo DNF

Altogether it was another great experience to run in this race. Some friends told me that I was also on Finnish TV. This was one of my inspirations when I set my goal of running in Kalevan Kisat.

For the marathon there is still a lot of work to do, but I am already looking forward to the hard training after taking some easy days.