The Portland, the largest and most populous city in the US state of Oregon and the seat of Nike was bombarded yesterday by the middle and long distance runners.
The athletics bombarded yielded an American record and Canadian record.
The American 1500 and 5000 record holder, Shelby Houlihan, was simply unbelievable yesterday as she broke her 14.34.45 American record and North America record to set a new one of 14.23.92. She was hotly followed by Karissa Schweitzer who also ran inside former record in a new personal best of 14.26.34.
“I knew Karissa was going to try to come up on me and take the lead, but I decided I was not going to let that happen,” Houlihan told usatf.tv after the race. “I just kept trying to fight her off and tried to have a big kick on the last lap.
“Karissa was in the race in Heusden two years ago where I set the previous record,” added Houlihan. “It’s been really awesome to have her as a training partner and to see how far she has come. She was only three seconds behind me today and I know she’s going to get that 5000m record at some point.”
In men, the Canadian record holder from 3000 to 10000, Mohammed Ahmed, was in blistering form to erase his 12.58.16 Canadian 5000 record and set a new North America record of 12.47.20.
“Once I saw the way Shelby and Karissa attacked the last 600m, I told myself that I just had to do the same kind of thing,” said Ahmed. “With two laps to go, the clock said 10:49 and I just thought, ‘you can run two (minutes) flat (for the final 800m)’. With 200m to go, I just tried to blast it as hard as I could.
“I’m excited, it’s something I’ve been working really, really hard for. It’s been an extremely challenging year, but luckily we have a good group and it was great to deliver this.”
Full Result;
Men
5.000m (split time in 3.000m) 1 Moh Ahmed (can) 12:47.20 (7:46.64); 2 Lopez Lomong 12:58.78 (7:46.86); 3 Marc Scott (gbr) 14:13.93 (7:47.87); 4 Woody Kincaid 14.14.00 (7:47.04); DNF but during 3.000m: Grant Fisher 7:46.10; Evan Jager 7:46.31; Sean McGorty 7:46.48; Chris Derrick 7:56.56; Ryan Hill 7:56.87
Women
5.000m (split time in 3.000m) 1 Shelby Houlihan 14:23.92 (8:48.14); 2 Karissa Schweizer 14:26.34 (8:48.37); 3 Courtney Frerichs 15:32.81 (8:47.90); 4 Elise Cranny 15:32.84 (8:47.89); DNF but during 3.000m: Gwen Jorgensen 8:48.48; Marielle Hall 8:48.72; Colleen Quigley 8:48.93
