RUNNING / REDONDO BEACH 10K : Musyoki Is 3 Years Late but He Wins

Three years after William Musyoki was heavily favored to win the Redondo Beach Super Bowl 10K run, the 26-year-old Kenyan lived up to expectations.

Finishing in 28 minutes 52 seconds, Musyoki held the lead from the start and was never seriously challenged. Stephane Franke of Germany was second in 29:30.

Carmen De Oliveira of Brazil also led throughout the women’s race to win in 32:26. American Diane Bussa finished second in 33:13.

In 1990, Musyoki was supposed to win easily, but he finished second to John Treacy of Ireland, who set a course record.

“You can never tell who is going to win with this many people,” Musyoki said Sunday. “I thought I was going to win the last time. . . . This time I wanted to run hard. I wanted to run my race.”

Race officials estimated that about 13,000 runners were chasing Musyoki at the start, but only for a brief time was anyone close.

Franke was on Musyoki’s heels during the first two miles, but Musyoki began to pick up the pace on the third, and as they began to move up steep Elena Street, Franke dropped back steadily.

“I turned to see (Franke) behind me and I smiled,” Musyoki said. “I moved over because I wanted to have a companion to run with. When I saw he didn’t want to run next to me, I decided to ignore him.”

By the time Musyoki made his turn north on Harbor Boulevard, he had run that third mile in 4:25, and the only thing he saw behind him was the Pacific Ocean.

Merely running a strong 10K race wasn’t enough for Musyoki. At the finish line, he surprised reporters and officials by running past them and continuing up the street. After about 45 minutes, Musyoki returned to the finish area.

“I’m trying to prepare myself for the World Championships,” he said. “I wanted to use this race as part of my training. I crossed the finish line, but I still had another 30 minutes of work to do.”

De Oliveira, who ran the 10,000 meters in last summer’s Olympic Games at Barcelona and is the South American women’s record-holder in that event, said of her victory: “It was fun. It was nice having the different people participating. The people in the wheelchairs that I passed were very supportive. They clapped and cheered, and it motivated me to go harder.”