Boilermaker 15K: Ideal conditions lead to record-breaking performances for men and women

Jemal Yimer dashed any chance of a photo finish in the 46th running of the Boilermaker Road Race on Sunday.

The Ethiopian battled with fellow elite runners for much of the 15K, but in the last half mile, the champion reasserted himself.

Yimer won the Men’s 15K race for the second straight year, outdueling fellow elite runner John Korir by eight seconds.

His final time of 42:06 set a new course and event record as he became the first back-to-back winner since Gabriel Geay in 2018 and ‘19.

On the women’s side, Kenyan Jesca Chelangat also shattered the female event and course record with a time of 47:33, a full 1:13 over the second-place finisher Sarah Naibei.

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Conditions lead to record-shattering day on the men’s side

Weather concerns hung a shadow over race day. First, there was the risk of smoke from the Canadian wildfires that littered the Central New York sky multiple times in the last month. Second, the possibility of torrential downpours threatened the Sunday morning start.

While light rain came down as the race began, it subsided shortly after 8 a.m.

With overcast skies and temperatures in the high 60s, runners took advantage of the ideal conditions and shattered the record book in the process.

Including Yimer, who broke his own record from 2022, the top four male finishers – Yimer, Korir, Charles Langat and Omar Ait Chitachen – all topped Yimer’s 2022 mark.

“Conditions were really nice,” Yimer said.

Another benefit to runners was the detour due to the closure of Champlin Avenue at Caroline Street. Instead of the hill at Champlin and Whitesboro Street, runners got a flat track on Caroline and then Kellogg Ave.

In the first third of the race, times among top runners remained par for the course as crowds sparsely populated Culver Avenue and Memorial Parkway around Mohawk Valley Community College.

However, as the race weaved through the peace and serenity of Valley View Golf Course and Conkling Park, the elite runners made up speed and then some.

After hitting the parkway again, the four record-breaking men began to separate themselves from the pack.

Ait Chitachen controlled the lead for much of the event, but as it meandered its way down Champlin past St. Luke’s and Utica University, the Moroccan lost pace.

Eventually, Langat, who won the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on Tuesday, also fell behind.

Yimer finally broke past Korir as Whitesboro Street crossed into Court Street by Old Main.

Reid Buchanan, who finished seventh overall and first among Americans, ran in his third Boilermaker on Sunday. The San Diego native said that while humidity was higher for this year’s race compared to 2022, the lack of sun helped greatly.

“When there’s no sun here, you can really rip,” Buchanan said.

New and familiar faces on the female side

Chelangat said the conditions created the “perfect race.” She knocked off Edna Kiplagat’s 2012 event record by 24 seconds.

Speaking of Kiplagat, she ventured back to Utica for the first time in 11 years. The two-time Boston Marathon winner easily set the masters event record with a time of 49:11 and earned a top-five finish in the process.

Kiplagat said she received motivation from running side-by-side with other fast women.

“When I came here, I was more recovered from the previous training.” Kiplagat said. “I knew this was a hard race, and the field is so strong.”

Her mark was one spot ahead of Aliphine Tuliamuk, the top American finisher. Tuliamuk ran in the Boilermaker for the first time Sunday and offered praise for Utica faithful.

“It’s really nice to have the fans and the band be out here cheering for us,” Tuliamuk said. “I was struggling in the beginning, but it was cool to have the fans out supporting us.”

Tuliamuk attributed her early struggles to the difficulty of the course, something multiple elite runners noted as well.

One runner who knows how to navigate her way around is Jessie Cardin. The 27-year-old grew up in Massachusetts but maintains family in Utica. She ran in the Kids Run in the early 2000s and won the 5K from 2012-2014.

She reemerged in Utica this year in the elite field and spoke through emotions of the special moment when she witnessed her grandmother and other family in their usual viewing spot by Friendly’s on Burrstone Road and Champlin Ave.

“Getting around that corner and seeing my family across the street and see them cheering for me and knowing where I came from, it’s pretty awesome,” Cardin said.

Other race-day nuggets

While elite runners typically round out the leaderboard at the Boilermaker, over 8,800 runners participate in the race and community support remains strong for them.

By 10 a.m., many runners and fans had retreated to the Saranac Post-Race Party, but hoards of others stood pat and cheered on the remaining few with chants of “keep going, you are almost there!” and mentions of free beer at the finish line.

In front of Old Main, a band played bag pipes, while slightly further up in front of the Gulf gas station, a DJ blasted hip-hop for runners powering through to the finish line.

The race holds a reputation for attracting runners from around New York State as well as the entire country.

First-time entrants Mackenzie Judd and Caleb Bonvresc arrived from Lowville. They heard stories about the civic pride in the Boilermaker, and that held true.

“I loved everyone on the sidelines cheering, and the variety of music on the course,” Judd said.

Bonvresc admitted the course brought some challenges.

“That hill in the middle at the golf course was tough, but it was very scenic. Great course,” he said.

Judd continued, “I didn’t know what Utica looked like, so it was really pretty.”

At the party, the band Showtime played 80s and 90s tune, and runners and fans alike toasted to a successful race and a return to Utica for its “Super Bowl” on the second Sunday in July.

Noah Ram is the sports reporter for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Noah Ram at nram@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Boilermaker 15K race 2023 records broken in Jemal Yimer repeat