Photo: Courtesy of Boston 10K for Women
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — An Arizona resident set a new American 10K record at the Boston 10K for Women race on Saturday.
Twenty-four-year-old Weini Kelati finished the race in 31 minutes and 18 seconds which was enough to beat the previous record set in 2015 by three seconds. Just top it all off, this was Kelati's first-ever professional road race.
“Today’s goal was to win, and I’m so happy I was able to do it, Kelati said in a statement. “My plan from the beginning was to push, because I’ve been doing so well in my training, and I’ve been seeing a lot of improvement.”
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The Eritrea native and Flagstaff resident attends the University of New Mexico and came into the race with the fastest 10K time of anyone in the elite runners' field. At mile two, she had two other runners right behind her, but the third mile, Kelati was all alone, something she said she's used to.
“I just race with myself [in my training] and see how fast I can run," she said. "I know there were fast runners here today who could hang on with me, but all I was thinking was I’m just going to go and run my race.”
Kelati averaged a 5:03 mile time during the race and won $9,000 for finishing in first.
The Boston 10k for Women was moved to this Saturday to accommodate the rescheduled Boston Marathon. This race is the largest women-only sporting event in New England. More than 3,000 people ran in the race this year.
WBZ's Suzanne Sausville (@wbzSausville) reports.
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