Ondieki Pulls Away to Win 10K

Yobes Ondieki of Kenya qualified for the Olympic trials in 1984, but a car accident in Ames, Iowa, denied him the chance to compete for a position on the Kenyan team.

Sunday morning, Ondieki slowly broke away from a pack of six runners in the final two miles to win the fourth annual Buick 10K in downtown San Diego.

“The Olympics, that’s everybody’s ultimate goal,” Ondieki, 26, said. “I’ll be very happy if I can compete in the Olympics. Right now, I’m running in the best races that come along. Training and getting ready.”

Ondieki, the top two-miler at Iowa State at the time of his injury, was a passenger in a car that was hit when another car ran a light.

“The car just came in and hit us,” he said. “I tore my (left) calf muscle and missed the rest of the season. But that doesn’t bother me any more.”

Ondieki, despite a slow 4-minute 58-second first mile, finished the race in 28:47, nine seconds ahead of his friend Peter Koech, also from Kenya. Ondieki picked up $5,000 for his effort, and Koech $3,000. Last year, Koech finished second and Ondieki third. Last year’s winner, Michael Musioki--who won the race in a record 28:17--did not compete this year.

Through most of the first two miles, Ondieki had to fight off a 13-runner pack, which dwindled to six before he eased away in the final two miles.

“The first one mile was really slow,” Ondieki said. “Then I started picking it up. I was one of the leaders after four miles, then I decided to break away. I was on my own pace. I was surprised no one kept with me.”

Among the leading pack of 13 were Ondieki, Koech, Francisco Pacheco of Mexico, Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland, Rich Brownsberger of El Cajon, Suleiman Nyambui of Tanzania and Gerardo Alcala of Mexico.

Near the 2 1/2-mile mark, Coghlan, 34, twisted his left knee. He slowly dropped from the pack, and though he thought about dropping out, finished 16th in 31:42.

“I’ve never had knee problems before,” Coghlan said. “I had to ease up because the pain was so great. I tried to pick it up at Ash Street (3 1/2-mile mark) but there was too much pain. At that point I said, ‘Will I drop out or jog it in?’ I figured I came all the way out here, so I jogged it in.

“It’s just a shame. I came out here to test myself. My training has been going great. I think I could have been in there with the leaders.”

After the leading pack had dropped to six, another mishap occured just before the four-mile mark. Nyambui, the 1980 Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000, got his legs tangled with Ondieki and fell, his hip, shoulder and head hitting the pavement on Ash Street. But he got up as quickly and sprinted back to catch the pack.

“It was tough to get up and start a new rhythm,” said Nyambui, who won $1,000 for finishing fourth (29:09). “I think I had a good chance to win because I felt comfortable. When I got up I felt kind of dizzy.”

Ondieki said Nyambui’s left leg clipped his right and he knew Nyambui had fallen, but didn’t look back.

“It didn’t really affect me much,” Ondieki said. “I was fortunate I didn’t fall, too.”

Pacheco won $1,500 for finishing third (29:00), and Alcala was fifth at 29:09. Other top finishers included Steve McCormack of San Diego seventh (29:44) and Brownsberger 11th (30:36).

In the women’s race, Lisa Weidenbach and Nancy Ditz lost track of each other in the pack and each thought she had won. But it was Weidenbach, 25, from Ann Arbor, Mich., who finished first in 33:20, 31 seconds ahead of Ditz.

“I’m very pleased,” said Ditz, 32, from San Francisco. “It was a good race for me. I was a little conservative on the hills, I think I was about 10th half-way up the first one.”

The slow pace at the beginning, caused by the hills, was also a concern for Weidenbach.

“I felt real sluggish at the mile mark,” she said. “At that point I took off. I wanted to pick up the pace after that.”

Weidenbach received $5,000 for her first-place finish, and Ditz $2,500.

Janice Ettle of Philadelphia (33:56) won $1,000 for her third-place finish, and Gail Kingma of Seattle (34:18) won $500 for fourth. Janine Aiello of Fremont, Calif., was fifth (34:18), Rancho Santa Fe’s Liz Baker ninth (34:36), and 1984 Olympic marathoner Gabriele Andersen 11th (35:12).

Allison Roe of New Zealand, one of the race favorites, finished 10th in 34:40.

10K Notes

Lisa Weidenbach’s husband, Bill, placed 12th in the men’s competition in 30:38. . . . One of the surprise early finishers was 10-year-old Carrie Garritson of Fullerton, who was 16th in 36:56. Her sister Heather, 6, finished 83rd in 47:05, and their brother, James, 11, finished 60th in the men’s competition in 34:27. . . . Blind runner Tom Sullivan, 40, of Palos Verdes, came in at 46:29, and one of his running guides, Nan Harman, 39, finished 71st in the women’s competition at 46:29. Sullivan had hoped to run 41 minutes, but said the number of runners, which was estimated at almost 3,500, forced him to hold back. “It was a nice day for a run,” he said. “I feel I ran well.”