Third AK Meet: Inexorable Judy Chepngetich claims 10,000m title

Judy Chepngetich of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) oozed class as she obliterated a fine field of 10 athletes to win the third Athletics Kenya Weekend Meeting in women's 10,000m race.

Josephine Wanjiku and Melody Langat, both from Central Rift settled for second and third place respectively.

The race gunned off with just 10 athletes contrary to the start list that had 26 entries and Jepng'etich took advantage of light numbers to exert her prowess. Rebecca Mwangi and Emily were noticeably missing from the field.

Nonetheless, the race had to go on. The pack of 10 stayed together until after three laps when five athletes were dropped off. The leading pack now had a group of five including Jepng'etich who was leading, closely followed by Lagat.

Mercy Korir of the Nairobi region, Evangeline Makena of the Eastern region, and Wanjiku sealed the leading pack.

With 16 laps to go, the leading pack had dropped to three women. Jepngetich was still leading with Wanjiku following her closely. Lagat had dropped to third place. The chasing pack had Korir and Makena fighting hard to close the gap.

After 12 laps, two women were now leading, Jepng'etich and Wanjiku. Lagat had dropped off and was fighting hard to close the gap that was slowly widening. With nine laps to go, Jepng'etich was in a class of her own as she had dropped Wanjiku. Things started intensifying and the race was becoming more of a sprint.

With seven laps to go, Jepngetich looked poised and was proudly swinging her head as she ran on the gravel track.

After 20 laps, the gap between Jepngetich and Wanjiku grew wider. Langat, who was in third place was also striving to get closer to Wanjiku.

With one lap to go, it was clear that Jepng'etich was going to take top honours in the race. She had overlapped every other athlete except Wanjiku and was sprinting to the finish line.