Norman Katende
24 November 2008
Kampala — DID Moses Kipsiro run the world's fastest 10km road race at the MTN Kampala Marathon on Sunday?
It yesterday emerged that even though Kipsiro did set a record, several last minute changes to the route mean his mark is unlikely to be ratified by the world athletics governing body, IAAF.
Police on Friday night ordered a change of route in the 10km race for security reasons. The old route that athletes had been preparing for, and had been measured for weeks, was abandoned and a new course was hurriedly mapped out -- raising fears that the race could have been over 400m shorter than planned.
Kipsiro clocked 26 minutes 14 seconds to win the race, nearly 48 seconds faster than Haile Gebrselassie's world record of 27:02 set in 2002.
Although the route was measured by an IAAF certified course measurer Faustin Kiwa after the change on Friday, it was too late for it to be certified by the world body.
The old route was to take the athletes from Lugogo to 4th Street Industrial Area. The new route instead went through Jinja Road.
The result of the change was that at many places, athletes were forced to run on the right of the road and not on the left, as the course measurer had planned.
Race winner Kipsiro himself doubted he had run 10km. " I wonder how I did it because I never pushed so hard. Maybe the distance was some metres less," Kipsiro confessed after the race.
Before a road running record is ratified, the course must be measured by an "A" or "B" grade IAAF approved measurer, which was done.
The course must however be verified (re-measured) within two weeks preceding the race, on the day of the race or as soon as practical after the race, preferably by a different "A" or "B" grade measurer from the one that did the original measurement.
Uganda Amateur Athletics Federation secretary Beatrice Ayikoru acknowledged the difficulty they would face ratifying the record. "It was a world leading time but the course is not among those that have been registered and certified by the international body," said Ayikoru.
"This is what happens with these marathons. The Parliament route had been certified but we change the routes every year. We will register one when we get a permanent route."
She however added that they will send the report of the route to IAAF so that they check if it is a record.
Martin Toroitich and Moses Kusuro head to Nigeria today for the lucrative Obudu Ranch International mountain running race on Saturday. Toroitich is a silver medallist at this year's World Mountain Running race and Kusuro is last year's junior champion.
10km road race result
1 M.Kipsiro (UGA) 26:14
2 A. Kiplimo (UGA) 27:12
3 D. Huru (UGA) 27:21
World record
Haile Gebrselassie 27:02
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