1st Kenenisa Bekele 11:01 ETH
2nd John Kibowen 11:04 KEN
3rd Benjamin Limo 11:06 KEN
4th Michael Kipyego 11:18 KEN
5th Thomas Kiplitany 11:20 KEN
- - - -
29th Philip Costley 11:46 New Zealand
41st Adrian Blincoe 11:53 New Zealand
44th Rees Buck 11:55 New Zealand
68th Michael Aish 12:09 New Zealand
90th Nicholas Willis 12:24 New Zealand
I was very nervous before I started warming up for the 4km race. I knew that it was going to be fast, but it was just so unknown that I wondered if I was out of my depth. The check in procedure was extensive. As a team, we had to get numbers checked three separate times and pick up a timing chip to have an official strap on us and once we went through to the staging area we couldn't come back out. Before the start we were stuck in a warm up pen about 80m x 40m where all the athletes were trying to stretch and do strides. The starting gates were like cattle pens. They were made of steel and only allowed athletes to stand in single file. From the start I decided to head out and try to keep Michael Aish and Adrian Blincoe in sight. In the first kilometre they were about 10-20m in front of me and I was doing everything I could to stay in contact. At the end of the first lap I was in 52nd place only two seconds behind Adrian. The rest of the New Zealand team was doing it's best to tell us what places we were in but the athletes were so close together that they cold not get things perfect. Thanks to them though, I knew I was near the top 50 and was trying extra hard to pick up every place I could. In the second lap the field stayed very stable with very few athletes moving backwards or forwards in position. In the final few hundred metres I passed three runners and although I finished only two seconds behind Adrian, I had not been able to see him for most of the second lap due to the number of other athletes between us. I was very happy with my place and also being on a team that placed 9th, beating the US and Canada. I look forward to having another chance in future years to place higher and hopefully be a part of an even better team.
