01:00 AM EDT on Monday, September 13, 2004
PROVIDENCE -- Olympian Tim Broe won the CVS/pharmacy
Downtown 5K yesterday, the first American to do so since John Gregorek's
1990 victory in the event's inaugural race. In a surprise final sprint,
the Boston runner, 27, beat a pack of fast Africans to finish in 13 minutes,
36.3 seconds. On the uphill homestretch, defending champion Thomas Kiplitan of Kenya
was so close that his toe touched Broe's heel. For his win, Broe collected the Downtown 5K's top prize of $5,000 plus
another $5,000 as the new U.S. National Men's 5K Champion. "I expected to take a decent check home," Broe said, "and I was hoping
for first, but road racing is different. It's so much fun. There's no pressure.
You just go out, and everybody is having a good time. The race is early
in the morning, so you don't have to sit around all day thinking about
it. You get up and run it. Not a lot of pressure." Broe returned from Athens, Greece, less than two weeks ago. He finished
11th in the men's 5,000-meter final at the Olympics after recovering from
the removal of a bone behind the big toe of his left foot. He didn't know what to expect in Providence yesterday. "I wasn't even planning on running until a week ago when somebody said there was a good 5K in Providence," he said after yesterday's
race. "It was not what I had expected. I expected 500 people, an African
or two, an American or two. . . . But when I walked into the hotel and
saw like eight Kenyans, I said, 'Oh man!' " Broe awakened early yesterday and jogged the course. "When I saw the finish
I was glad," he said, "because if it was slow, a kicker has a better chance
on a flat than having to go up a hill and kick." That's exactly how the race developed: It began with a 4:25 first mile and a huge lead pack. At the second-mile marker, when the leaders generally begin to string
out, the pack was still intact at an even slower pace of 4:30. "I felt really good the first mile," Broe said, "and then it got a little
slow so I just tucked in. . . . I was going to go [at] three-quarters or
a half mile to go, and then really push it, but then [Kiplitan and Valentine
Orare] jumped out and did it for me. "They were trying to break me, but then one of them fell apart, and then
going up hill, I just maintained better than the other." Still, Broe was uncertain of his lead, he said, "until the last five steps." "Going up the hill, I thought I was away from [Kiplitan], but he kicked
my shoe. . . . I thought he was just waiting, and the way the crowd was
screaming, I felt like there were 20 guys on my shoulder." Thousands of spectators and high-school athletes were chanting U-S-A and
shouting Broe's name. Only Kiplitan was there behind him. And, as Broe had figured, in the final 30 meters, the Kenyan was unable
to kick on the hill. Kiplitan finished in 13:38.5; Patrick Nthiwa finished third in 13:43.6;
Julius Kibet was fourth in 13:44.4, and Linus Maiyo finished fifth in 13:45.4. His left foot in pain, Broe said he planned to take a rest from running
for a week or two.
