Kenyans a cut above the rest

Yet there was not a single loser among the record 9290 entry yesterday, all the way from Kiplagat, whose winning time was the second fastest in the world this year, right back to the very last person to reach the finish gantry in Bellahouston Park.

The 28-year-old Kiplagat clocked 31min 14sec, while Tricia Tierney, dressed as a daffodil, and in her mid-40s, arrived more than an hour and a half later, having collected bucketfuls of money as she ran, for the Marie Curie cancer charity.

Kiplagat, who held the world five-mile record until it was beaten by Paula Radcliffe in 1998, and also the fastest half marathon time, currently has the world best for 20 kilometres, at 63:54. The 28-year-old, who also boasts many international marathon victories, most recently in Osaka earlier this year, won by almost a minute.

She has invested some of her winnings in the training camp at Iten, in the Rift Valley, to help women capitalise on their athletics talent, and insists they also continue their education. Linah Cheruiyot, runner-up for the second successive year, and third-placed Catherine Kwambei, are both former international athletes. They finished fourth and fifth in the world junior cross-country championships a decade ago, but then dropped out of the sport for several years, each giving birth to a son and a daughter. They say it would have been impossible to regain the highest level without the camp which Kiplagat has established, but now she is ready to open its doors to Scots.

Cheruiyot has completed seven races, four at 10 kilometres, and three half marathons in Europe this spring. The income will make a significant difference to that from the 70-acre farm which she works with her husband. ''I go home tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing my children again,'' she said.

Yelena Burykina, the Russian winner of the Moscow half marathon a fortnight ago, out-sprinted the two-time former winner, Natalie Harvey, of Australia, for fourth. It is a minor criticism, but the finish appeared to spring out of the ground, taking people by surprise, just over a blind summit. It certainly wrong-footed Harvey, and others who were racing as opposed to jogging or walking, to challenge their personal demons, and test their own limits.

A former protege of Kiplagat, Catherine Mutra, was sixth, but one had to wait until tenth place to welcome the first Scot. Susan Partridge, the former Great Britain cross-country internationalist from Glasgow University, carved exactly a minute from her previous best, with 34:57.

The 22-year-old West District cross-country champion reckons she has only an outside prospect of qualifying for the Commonwealth Games when she contests the 10,000m on the track in the AAA event, the official trial next month. ''I'll have to work to do the qualifying time, while other girls who have already achieved it can concentrate on winning the race, and ensuring selection,'' she said.

Four places further back, the second Scot was able to reflect on the fact that her Manchester prospects remain bright. Triathlete Catriona Morrison was the last person to enter the event, given a dispensation at 9pm on Saturday night, after a frantic call to the organisers following a puncture earlier in the day, which had forced her out of the Great North Triathlon, at Stockton, a Commonwealth Games trial event for her new sport.

A geography graduate who ran for City of Glasgow, and once represented Scotland at cross-country, Morrison switched to the triathlon two years ago, and won the world age group title in Edmonton last summer. ''I was on schedule to qualify for the Games until I punctured on lap 25 of 40 at Stockton, but I've another qualifying chance in Holland in two weeks, and I'm very optimistic.

''I was not particularly pleased with my time today. I'd expect to run that quick ina tri, after getting off the bike.''

If Scottish endurance running is in the doldrums, Kiplagat, who has built an affinity with the city, is prepared to play her part in generating a wind of change. She spoke this weekend with Brian Donaldson, co-ordinator of the the Glasgow Athletics Development Scheme and the city's development officer for the sport, about scholarships for Scottish athletes at her camp.

''I'd welcome the chance to have Scottish athletes train on with us in Kenya,'' she said. ''We could accommodate 15 easily.''

The massive field which queued from the start line in Nithsdale road yesterday snaked back almost half a mile. With each runner having the so-called Champion Chip on their laces, technology makes it possible to give every individual their precise time, no matter how long they take to reach the start. The final runners to pass the balloon-bedecked gantry were two mums pushing infants in buggies, more than 16 minutes after the klaxon. By then Kiplagat was more than half way home, and already some 100 metres clear of her nearest rivals.

The Kenyan trio ran together, but Kiplagat broke clear after 4000m, was 30m clear at halfway, and drew relentlessly ahead. Her final three kilometres took 9:22, a time beaten by only four women at Loughborough's track international on Saturday.

Her two Kenyan proteges were classmates at the same school, St Patrick's, in Iten, where they were coached by brother Colm O'Connell, an Irish lay priest who has been mentor to some 80% of the leading Kenyan athletes of the past decade. He has enriched all their lives.

Yesterday's winner collected (pounds) 300, plus 150 of the sponsor's units, with (pounds) 250 plus 100 for second, and (pounds) 200, plus 50 for third. This is modest in major athletics, but was in addition to unspecified participation fees. ''My husband manages the girls, and takes 15% of what they win,'' said Kiplagat. ''That goes towards the cost of running the camp, but otherwise, I find the money for everything else.

''I was pleased with my time today. It's my third best ever, after my two wins in the world 10,000m championship (30:52, and 30:58), in Atlanta.''

She discounted contesting Kenya's Commonwealth trials, though Cheruiyot may do so. ''I hope to be back for the Great Scottish Run half-marathon this summer,'' said Kiplagat. As to the future, the 10,000m at the 2004 Olympics is her goal, despite the marathon successes which suggest the longer distance might prove more rewarding. Radcliffe, the only woman to have run 10,000m faster than her this year, favours the marathon in 2004 Olympics, but not Kiplagat: ''Are you kidding? Athens will be too hot. It could be end my career, and I don't want that.''

The massed ranks behind had greeted the arrival of the elite field at the front with a prolonged spontaneous burst of applause, bringing a lump into many a throat. Then the drums started throbbing. International athletics is used to their beat. Their rhythm routinely accompanies the exploits of the Ethiopian emperor of men's endurance running, Haile Gebrselassie. Sheboom, an all-women Glasgow drum ensemble, conjured a deep pulsating vibration, memorably sending the field on its way. No Haile here, just 7952 lassies.

That was the number recorded by the bleeping chips as the women crossed the start. A drop-off of 20% from total entries is normal for mass participation events, so at less than 15% of the 9290 who registered, Glasgow even beat the averages.

Margo Whiteford, a spina bifida victim from Erskine, was the only wheelchair entrant, collecting a (pounds) 150 prize, plus 150 units, having taken just over 48 minutes. She had more luck than last year, when she was second to Paralympic champion Tanni Grey. ''This is a tougher course. I was two minutes slower this time,'' recalled Margo. ''I crashed my chair last year, fell over, and skinned my face and shoulder, but one of the elite runners stuck me back on my wheels, and I kept going.''

It is that kind of race, and from modest beginnings, with 800 starters 10 years ago, Glasgow is right to be proud of having developed the UK's biggest women-only 10k. It is an asset to be cherished. Britannic's three-year deal has expired, but the company's sponsorship officer, Marie Garvey, is ''optimistic'' about negotiating renewal with the city.