American Dreams

U.S. citizens born in Kenya take special pride in Peachtree wins on Independence Day.

It was indeed Leonard Korir’s day. Korir won the 48th annual AJC Peachtree Road Race with a time of 28:16 Tuesday. He barely edged his training mate Shadrack Kipchirchir (28:17), with whom he flipped spots throughout the race in the elite men’s division.

“You know, you feel that pain for all those miles, and to be able to win it at the end, it’s rewarding,” said Korir, a Kenya native.

His 28:16 mark was the best at the Peachtree since Mosinet Geremew posted a 28:07 in 2013.

Sam Chelanga finished third in 28:25. The top three all train together in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Korir, 30, was the 2017 USA Cross Country champ, USA 15K champ and USA Half Marathon champ. He now has a win in his AJC Peachtree Road Race debut for his fourth USA title of the year. The race served as the 10K national championship.

Korir called the Peachtree “the toughest race in my entire life.”

He added that he almost ran out of energy. Korir dropped to the ground to stretch out cramps just after finishing. Korir was more accustomed to dueling the Colorado altitude than Georgia’s humidity.

“It’s so hard to run here,” he said. “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.”

The heat was especially bad Tuesday, with the Atlanta Track Club issuing a red-flag warning the day before for extreme conditions.

But Korir said he stayed patient through his fatigue — drinking plenty of water — and it paid off.

“I was done,” Korir said, smiling, after the race. “I’m glad I was able to win. It was my day.”

Korir graduated from Iona College in New York in 2012 with a degree in political science. He was also a two-time NCAA champion in track there.

He joined the Army in 2015 and became a citizen at the end of that year as part of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, which gives soldier-athletes the support necessary to train and compete as they serve. He ran in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, finishing 14th in the 10,000 meters.

Korir came close to his personal-best time (28:09). Kipchirchir (28:12) and Chelanga (28:11) also fell shy of their personal bests. The Peachtree record is 27:04, set by Joseph Kimani in 1996.

Kipchirchir, 28, placed 19th in the 10,000 at Rio and was 21st in the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Chelanga, 32, finished 11th in the same event (best among Americans) and holds the NCAA record in the 10,000 meters at 27:08.49 during his time at Liberty University.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM Leonard Korir and Aliphine Tuliamuk celebrate victories in the Peachtree. Korir, a 2016 Olympian, became a U.S. citizen in a program in which he joined the Army and runs. Tuliamuk has won six U.S. championships since she became a citizen last year.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM Leonard Korir receives treatment for cramps after he won the Peachtree. He called it “the toughest race in my entire life.”