Three former Iowa State greats came to the 54th annual ASICS Falmouth Road Race seeking a win and possibly a course record on Sunday, Aug. 16.
They were blocked by Eritrean running star Habtom Samuel.
Samuel broke Wesley Kiptoo’s course record at Falmouth, Massachusetts, by holding off 2019 Cyclone NCAA cross country champion Edwin Kurgat of Kenya. Samuel ran 30:53 to become the first runner to ever break 31 minutes for the 7-mile distance. Kurgat, 30, of Kenya settled for second in 31:04, which also eclipsed Kiptoo’s shared record of 31:08 from 2023.
Kurgat leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and post collegiate distance runners and triathletes.
Samuel, 22, and Kurgat broke away from a strong field by mile 5, but the five-time NCAA champion pulled away from the Under Armour Dark Sky Distance athlete based in Flagstaff, Arizona, in his Falmouth debut.
Kiptoo, fourth a year ago after winning the event in 2023, had to settle for fifth place this time in 32:00. Kiptoo, 27, is a HOKA NAZ Elite athlete based in Flagstaff who was fourth at the Quad-City Times Bix 7 last month. Two-time U.S. Olympian steeplechaser Hillary Bor, also a former Iowa State All-American, took sixth overall in 32:01. Bor, 36, is a U.S. Army team member based in Colorado.
Also taking the trip to Massachusetts was Runablaze Iowa member and Fleet Feet store owner Phil Young, 40, of Davenport. Young ran 37:28 for 48th among the men.
Shifting to track and field, where six-time NJCAA champion Adva Cohen finished 10th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase women’s final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, on Thursday, Aug. 13. The ex-Iowa Central Community College athlete, who now competes for the Under Armor Dark Sky team in Flagstaff, was timed in 9:38.21 at Alexander Stadium. Gesa Felicitas Krause of Germany won the European title in 9:12.69.
Cohen earned a spot in the final by taking eighth place in a heat of the steeplechase in 9:37.15 on Aug. 10. Cohen was just 5.06 seconds behind heat winner Lea Meyer of Germany. Cohen qualified for the European Athletics Championships by winning the Israel national title, her ninth, in Tel Aviv on July 9.
Moving to professional triathlon, where former Buena Vista University athlete and professor Matt Hanson competed at Ironman Kalmar in Sweden on Aug. 15. The five-time Ironman winner had to rally from 27 minutes down when he started his run, a marathon. The resident of Castle Rock, Colorado, posted a race-best 2:30:59 run for the 26.2-mile distance to move up to seventh place overall in 7:42:26. Hanson covered the 2.4-mile swim in 50:22 and the 112-mile bike in 4:17:58 in the last full-distance qualifier for the Kona world championships. Jonas Schomburg of Germany was the winner in 7:22:57 while Matthew Marquardt set a new American record of 7:28:28 while grabbing second place.
Hanson had already secured his slot at Kona following strong early-season performances, including a podium finish at Ironman New Zealand.
Back to the roads and the 49th annual Watermelon Stampede in Muscatine on Aug. 15. Running Wild Elite's Dalton Rice, 27, who competed for Clinton High before running for Clinton Community College, was the 10K winner in 34:56. Rice, from Davenport, won by 2:20.
Anthony Armstrong, a senior-to-be at Lisbon, won the Kraut Route 5K in Lisbon on Aug. 15. Armstrong ran 16:54 to edge Lisbon teammate Kyler Happel, who had the same time. RWE’s Ean Caskey, a former Cornell College standout, was third place and the best masters runner in 17:01. Caskey owns the Iowa all-time record for men 40 and over of 15:20 set in Lisbon in 2022. Placing seventh in 18:07 was Michael Mallon, 60, of Davenport.
West Point held its Sweet Corn Festival Run 5K and Waukee sophomore-to-be Colton Kokjohn was the 5K winner in 17:03.97. He won by nearly 18 seconds. Runablaze’s Amanda Edwards, a Wartburg grad living in Grundy Center, was the women’s winner and fourth overall in 18:58.47.
At the News and Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia Aug. 15. Chase Bulten, a new member of the Runablaze Iowa team, took eighth in the featured half marathon in 1:17:09. Bulten, 29, is a Manson Northwest Webster and Northwestern College grad who started at Iowa Central. The winner was Toby Jones of Grove City, Pennsylvania, in 1:08:24. Bulten was runner in the 2025.
GOING BACK: The difficult Mines of Spain Trail races were held Aug. 8 in Dubuque. Posting the second-best time in women’s half marathon history was Iowa City West and Iowa product Gabby Skopec. The Fitness Sports Distance Project athlete, 27, from Coralville ran 1:41:22 for the win by 5:04. Skopec, sixth overall, was 1:08 off the record set in 2022. Sasha Gallagher, 31, of Ames was second in 1:46:26.
Taking the half marathon win was RWE’s Dan Froeschle of Davenport. The Davenport Assumption product, 36, ran 1:24:30 to top teammate Brett Rosauer, 35, of Iowa City by 1:12. Ross Salinas, 45, of Iowa City took third in 1:28:14.
The women’s 7-mile winner was Brooke Ferguson, 43, of Dubuque in 58:56. Ferguson missed her best at this race by 2:10. Her 56:46 time from 2022 in second best in race history. Ferguson won by 24 seconds.
Emerson Vokes, a Grundy Center standout now a freshman at Augustana University, was the winner at the Adel Sweet Corn Festival 5K on Aug. 8. Vokes ran 15:57 to win by 1:06 over Ankeny High grad Logan Rolling.
Grant Gayther, a Forest City senior this fall, was the winner of the Kristi Hovenga Memorial Run/Walk in Forest City on Aug. 8. Gayther ran 16:57.
At the YMCA of Washington County Triathlon on Aug. 8, David Alexander, 37, of Coralville took the win in the sprint race in 1:07:34. Alexander won by 5:35.
MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at bergeson@registermedia.com.
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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Edwin Kurgat, Wesley Kiptoo, Adva Cohen, Matt Hanson, Dalton Rice