Kenyan, Estonian take top spots at Fifth Seasons 8K

CEDAR RAPIDS — At 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Kurui Evans arrived in Cedar Rapids for the first time.

He parked his car with a few other friends, and quickly made his way over to the registration table near 3rd Ave. He was on a mission.

It didn't take him long to leave his mark.

The Kenya native dominated the field in the 32nd running of the Fifth Seasons 8-kilometer race, taking first place with a time of 23:42.

'I met (Evans) this morning when he signed up this morning at 7 a.m.,' Hannah Rigler, one of the race coordinators, said. 'He emailed me yesterday. I didn't know a lot about him prior to that, but I was told he did pretty well (in a marathon a few weeks prior), so I was excited that he showed up this morning.'

Evans, who moved to Minneapolis nearly five years ago to begin training full time, said he made the trek down simply to run in a more-unusual race — and it fit in well to his training schedule.

Tiidrek Nurme had a similar mind-set. Nurme, who finished just 11 seconds behind Evans with a time of 23:53, is an Olympic runner for his home country of Estonia. Nurme competed in the marathon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in the 1,500 meter run in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Nurme is training in Colorado for six weeks before heading back to Europe to work for the World Championships later this fall.

'I was looking for a fast race on the Fourth of July because it was a good date for a faster workout,' Nurme said. 'Then I found out there is a fast race in Cedar Rapids, so I just decided to come here.'

Nurme said he and Evans were neck and neck throughout the first portion of the race. At the midway point, their split time even lined up perfectly.

Yet Evans hit his stride perfectly, and it was just too much for the Estonian.

'The race was very, very tactical,' Nurme said. 'The first half was very slow. It was enough for marathon runners. But after the first half, (Evans) made a very sharp move. I decided to follow, but I couldn't keep up with him. Even though we were slowing down at the end, I couldn't catch him.'

So even though he didn't win, Nurme said he isn't totally disappointed. While it would have been nice to take home the $599 first-place prize, Nurme is keeping it in perspective. After all, Tuesday was just more of a workout for the Olympian.

'Finishing second is great,' Nurme said. 'Of course I was willing to win, but (it didn't happen) today. I gave my best in finishing second. I'm very happy about that.'

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