By GILBERT WANDERA

Isaac Korir from Rift Valley won the men’s 10,000m finals on the first day of the Kenya Prisons Inter Provincial Athletics Championship at Nyayo National Stadium Thursday.

Korir clocked 28:25.2 to emerge winner ahead of second placed John Mwangangi from North Eastern Province who came home in 28:47.5. Mwangangi was the 2011 Africa cross country champion in the 12km senior men race.

Charles Cheruiyot finished in third position and was credited with a time of 28:51.1. Cheruiyot is from the Prisons Training College. Fourth position went to Joseph Birich from Nyanza Province, who clocked 29:07.8 while Daniel Too representing Nairobi came home fifth in 29:26.24.

African silver medallist Timothy Kiptoo qualified for the men’s 5,000 finals after winning his heat in a time of 13:47.1. Kiptoo broke away with two laps to go and had to rely on his experience after youthful Peter Ndolo threatened to challenge his move, before he ultimately ran out of steam.

Tactical race

It was a neck to neck race between the two right from the blocks but Ndolo who was second in 14:05.2 started struggling to cope with Kiptoo’s pace with four rounds remained to the end of the race.

Kiptoo later revealed that his plan to win the race had worked perfectly.

"I have realised that Ethiopians always beat us in the last lap of the long distances races and I had paced myself to break away at the end when I’m still strong.

"I’m really glad that it worked. The opposition was strong but they could not match my last kick," he said.

Kiptoo said he is hoping to be in the Kenyan team to the London Olympic later this year and has also predicted a better performance. He however faces stiff challenge from a battery of runners representing the Kenya Police, Kenya Defence Force and the Administration Police alongside those coming through from the branches.

Olympics Games

"This is an Olympic year and any serious athlete will want to represent his country at the games. It is my ambition to make the team though I know it will not be easy given the strong field that we will encounter at the trials.

"I’m happy that Athletics Kenya (AK) has set up a training camp for 5,000m and 10,000m athletes. This will help us improve our performance," said Kiptoo.

Ndolo, who finished second said inexperience cost him but he is delighted with his performance and hopes it, will be a motivation to do better in future.

"It was a very tight race all through but he beat me in the last lap due to experience. This is my second year of racing but he has been to many championships before," said Ndolo.

Gilbert Mutai from Coast Province finished third in the race in a time of 14:30.6.

Commonwealth Games 1,500m champion Silas Kiplagat will be the star attraction today and tomorrow as he launches his Olympics campaign.