New Mexico Woman, Colorado Man Win Peachtree Road Race

ATLANTA, GA -- Leonard Korir, a Kenya native who lives in Colorado, won the AJC Peachtree Road Race Elite Men’s Division on Tuesday with a 28:16 time. He beat his training partner, Shadrack Kipchirchir by one second, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the race's sponsor.

In the Women's Championship, Aliphine Tuliamuk of Santa Fe, New Mexico, coasted to victory. She finished with an unofficial time of 32:49, the AJC reports. (To get notified of more local news like this, click here to sign up for the Buckhead Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

The race, in its 48th year, attracted more than 60,000 runners and hundreds of observers, the organizers, the Atlanta Track Club, said.

“There is nothing better than getting a flag on America’s birthday,” Tuliamuk told the newspaper. “This will be the most memorable flag I have.”

Korir, who has won a handful of national running titles since becoming an American citizen just last year, said that he had to push to finish the race. “It’s so hard to run here,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the race's sponsor. "All day it was, you know what, I’ve got to be patient. If it’s my day today, I’m going to win again. Just hang in there, push, give everything and see what happens.”

See official results of the Peachtree Road Race

Korir, 30, was joined by two other runners from Colorado Springs, rounding out the top three. Sam Chelanga, who trains with the Korir and Kipchirchir, came in third place at 28:25, the AJC reports. All three are NCAA champions and have held their own against Olympic competition.

In April, Kipchirchir won South Carolina's Cooper River Bridge Run race, becoming the first American to achieve the feat in 26 years. Chalenga is an accomplished runner in his own right, holding the NCAA record for the 10,000-meter race, which he did in 2010.

The heat was an issue for scores of runners, including Korir, who told the AJC that it was the "toughest race of my life," he told WXIA-TV. “You know, you feel that pain for all those miles, and to be able to win it at the end, it’s rewarding,” he was quoted as saying.

Race organizers warned that the heat would be at a "Red Alert" level, meaning that runners should take caution and rest along the way if they were in danger of overheating.

'Red Alert' Issued For Peachtree Road Race Due To Heat, Humidity

Twenty-five African leaders were on hand to distribute water to those in the race at the first mile mark. The delegation is part of a contingent of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). They are in Georgia to immerse themselves in educational and entrepreneurial leadership training and represent several African nations, including Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Read more: African leaders hand out water at Peachtree Road Race

Later in the evening, Tuliamuk attended the Atlanta United game in Midtown and nailed the giant Golden Spike, to the delight of the crowd.

Like Kipchirchir, Korir is an Army veteran. He also ran in last year's Olympics in Rio.

Image via Pixabay