Sunday, October 23, 2016
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
The early word on the 42nd Youngstown Peace Race was that it featured a stacked field at the top. It lived up to that billing the race came down to the final mile before a winner was decided.
While two Americans bested three Kenyan runners and a returning Olympic marathoner from the Democratic Republic of Congo, they couldn’t catch James Kibet. The 27-year-old Kenyan crossed the finish line pointing toward the sky, taking his first race inside the United States.
“This was a fast race. When I was in the group, I thought ‘maybe I can be the top man in the race,’” Kibet said. “I checked and they came back, so I tried to go faster in mile three. Some guys closed the gap. I still had a lot of energy at mile five, so I pushed.”
Kibet had a time of 29:38.29, beating Twinsburg native Bobby Moldovan by 18 seconds. Moldovan said his original goal was to be the best American and record a time under 30 minutes.
More than 1,500 runners competed in the race Sunday.
Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator or on Vindy.com.