Women's Bix winner Masai proves she isn't too old

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By Steve Batterson | Saturday, July 26, 2008 11:26 PM CDT | () comments

Edith Masai more than mastered the Quad-City Times Bix 7 course Saturday.

The 41-year-old Kenyan let her mind and experience work for her in the race through the streets of Davenport, claiming a 1-second victory over Angelina Mutuku of Kenya to become the first masters runner in the event’s 34-year history to win the overall women’s title.

Masai’s winning time, 37 minutes, 20 seconds, chopped 2:08 off the previous masters record established by Laurie Binder in 1991.

“You do not have to be young to be good as a runner,” Masai said. “If you train hard, be intelligent, relax as you need, respect your body, you can do good things. Your age does not matter as long as your body is moving.”

What Masai accomplished is a rarity.

Over the past two decades only three masters runners — male or female — have finished in the top 10 at the Bix 7. In 1988, Priscilla Welch finished fourth and Bill Rodgers took eighth and two years later, John Campbell finished fourth in the men’s race.

“You can do big things if you believe you can,” Masai said. “I have always believed that.”

Masai moved her way through a crowded front pack at the right time.

She stayed with — but was ever-so slightly behind — a group that included about eight women through the race’s first 5 miles.

“It was a big group, and at some point I knew that I had to step ahead if I wanted to win,” Masai said.

The pack included third-place finisher Ashu Kasim of Ethiopia, who crossed in 37:27, and Kenyans Ogla Kimaiyo and Pauline Wangui, who finished in 37:30 and 37:34, respectively.

The only recent former champion in the women’s field, 2005 winner Nuta Olaru of Romania, finished eighth.

“Edith knew when to move ahead. She ran a good race,” Olaru said. “She wanted to win.’’

Running in her second road race in the U.S., Masai applied what she learned during a third-place finish at the Utica (N.Y.) Boilermaker 15K to her game plan for the Bix 7.

Kasim won that race, in part because of the way she handled a downhill portion of the race.

“I knew she would be there again and here, I had to move ahead before we got to the downhill,’’ Masai said. “I knew that had to happen. I stayed behind until I saw the 5-mile sign. Then it was my turn to move ahead.

“That is when I made my move to the front. I knew my competition and I knew I would have to run a very strong race. Today, I showed that I have learned how to run downhill. I knew that I had to pick it up to the end. It is about knowing what I had to do to win.’’

Although Saturday marked her Bix 7 debut, Masai is a three-time world cross country champion who was into her 30s before she began to take her running seriously.

“It took me time to get to where others have been, but I have enjoyed every opportunity I have been given,’’ she said.

A win in the 1999 Kenyan national cross country championships vaulted her onto the world stage.

Her second gold-medal winning effort at the World Cross Country Championships in 2003 preceded a promotion to senior sergeant in the Kenya prison services, an organization that has developed a number of top athletes from that country.

Masai, who grows corn and wheat and raises a handful of cattle on a small farm she owns, was also a member of Kenya’s 2004 Olympic team although a hamstring injury prevented her from competing in the 5,000-meter race at Athens.

She opted this year to turn her focus to road racing, making her American debut earlier this month at Utica.

“I am very happy to win my first race in America,’’ Masai said. “It was so good, with all of the local people cheering me on. I wanted to run strong and I was able to do that.’’

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.