Ngatia and Cathey Easily Win 10K Road Race

Try to imagine how frustrating it must be for Sam Ngatia and Kellie Cathey. They beat top men’s and women’s fields to win $4,000 each in Sunday’s Nissan 10 kilometer road race. And both said they are running as well as they ever have.

But, in this Olympic year, the only thing that really matters is if they will be at the starting line for the 10,000 meters on the track in Seoul about four months from now.

Ngatia, 28, of Kenya, covered the difficult course through downtown and by Balboa Park in 28 minutes 49 seconds to beat Raf Wyns of Belgium by eight seconds.

Ngatia hung with a pack of seven runners through the first two miles, which were uphill. When the pack hit the downhill portion of the race, Ngatia, Wyns and Jean-Pierre Ndayisenga of Belgium made a break. They ran the third mile in 4:09.

Ngatia took the lead about 4 1/2 miles into the 6.2-mile race and was never challenged.

Sunday’s victory came after Ngatia won the prestigious Cleveland Revco 10K last week--he ran 28:53 in 85-degree humid heat--and ran in a marathon in Rome four weeks ago.

“I was almost ensured of winning here,” Ngatia said. “I was scared of the big names in Cleveland. Here, there was no one who could threaten me.”

Ngatia may be one of the hottest runners around, but that does not mean he is a shoe-in to make the Kenyan Olympic team. Five of the top six places at the recent World Cross-Country Championships were from Kenya.

“I guess a lot of people are peaking now,” Ngatia said. “I am peaking, too. Here, I am running faster and faster. I guess we have more than enough runners. If I (don’t make the team), I will have to accept it.”

Cathey faces a similar scenario.

Her time Sunday (33:19) was a minute, 10 seconds faster than second-place Debbie Elsmore of New Zealand and she just missed the course record by two seconds.

Cathey, who lives in Phoenix, once held the American track and field record for 10,000 meters. She ran 32:22.5 as a 20-year-old student at Oklahoma in 1982. She also finished 4th in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in a time of 33:00 recently.

But Cathey is hardly assured one of three spots on the American Olympic team.

“Girls have gotten so much better since I set the record,” Cathey said. “I have run some good road races (including a 32:22 in Salt Lake City), but it is easy to get lost in the crowd.”

Elsmore, 30, is in the same situation.

She has two options, neither of which is too appealing. She can try qualify for the 3,000 meters, but New Zealand has only one spot. Or, she can try for one of three spots in the 10,000 meters. But Elsmore said there are six women, including veterans Ann Audain, Lorraine Moller and Allison Roe, who are stiff competition.