Former Oklahoma State Star First Woman To Go Under 50 Minutes; Charles Hicks Wins Men's Race

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Taylor Roe demolished the world best at the USATF 10 Mile Championships and became the first woman to dip under 50 minutes, breaking the tape in 49:53.

Roe broke the previous best, set by Evaline Chirchir in 2019, by nearly 40 seconds, and she broke Keira D’Amato’s American best by well over a minute. She also took down the American best in the 15k en-route at the event, part of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Sunday morning.

“Every time I go out, it’s a learning experience and something different,” Roe said. “Today, honestly, the goal was to get more comfortable with the roads and understanding that I have a future in that, and that I’m starting to realize that, like, ‘Shoot, I kinda like this stuff a little bit.’”

Roe sat in the lead pack from the gun, which also consisted of Fiona O’Keefe, Adane Anmaw and Emma Grace Hurley for the first several miles. The four crossed the 5k mark in 15:33. Over the next 5k, though, Roe started to separate, and by the 10k mark, she had a 22-second lead. Her 10k split of 30:56 would have earned her fourth at the TEN last weekend — which is exactly where she did finish, with a time two seconds slower.

Even after the blistering first 10k, she didn’t let up the pace, continually clicking off sub-five miles. She constantly checked her watch throughout the race, as she was going much faster than she and her coach, Alistair Cragg, had planned, but after a quick exchange with Cragg around the four mile mark, she decided to “just go.”

“I think there was a point, like, I committed to a pace,” Roe said. “I just had to commit to it, believe in it, and tell myself I could believe in it.”

With her performance, she earned her second national title of the year, adding to her win at the USATF Half Marathon Championships in March.

Behind her, Anmaw and Hurley stayed together and finished four seconds apart in second and third, respectively. Their 51:00 and 51:04 performances were both faster than the previous course record of 51:14.

O’Keefe held on for fourth, running much of the race by herself. Aubrey Frentheway took fifth in 51:58, followed by Annie Frisbie, the highest finishing returner, in sixth.

Charles Hicks, meanwhile, won a much more competitive men’s race, breaking the tape in 45:15. A dual citizen of Great Britain and the U.S., he was able to compete in the USATF event because it was not a team selection race. He received an American flag at the finish and was shown as the top American in the results. He is not eligible for American records.

Hicks made sure to give Alex Maier plenty of credit, as Maier lead the entire race until the last half mile, where Hicks outkicked him and barreled through the tape, showing plenty of emotion. Hicks said he’s entering a “new era” of his running career.

“I think I closed a chapter over the past couple months and we’re starting a new one,” Hicks said. “This is a great way to start.”

He said both of his previous coaches, Mike Rivera and Ricardo Santos, “put (him) through the ringer” during his high school and college days, which allowed him to cope with the demands of professional training. He and his Stanford teammates gained a bit of notoriety on Strava for their 10-mile tempo runs, which were often run at or under 4:50 pace. On Sunday, he showed that those were truly tempo efforts, as he held 4:30 pace for the same distance. He said he was somewhat surprised that he was able to do it.

“When you’re training with Jerry Schumacher, anything’s possible,” Hicks said. “We had a good feeling, but the feeling wasn’t that good.”

Maier, however, said he felt great coming into the race and had every intention of leading from gun to tape. He recently completed a training block in Albuquerque with Pat Tiernan and Peter Lynch, and he gained some confidence from a 12-mile tempo at sub-marathon pace.

“I felt like I came in in a good place,” Maier said. “I was fit, ready to rip.”

It was hardly a two-horse race, though. Despite a blistering early pace, the leaders never separated too far from the rest of the pack. At the 5k mark, the top 16 were only separated by four seconds. A true lead pack of Maier, Hicks, Biya Simbassa and defending champion Hillary Bor materialized around the halfway point, and those four stayed together throughout much of the latter half of the race. Maier took second in 45:16, followed by Simbassa in 45:23 and Bor in 45:30.

Behind the leaders, a smattering of elites populated the top 10, including Wesley Kiptoo (fifth, 45:55), Patrick Dever (46:05, eighth), Joe Klecker (46:08, ninth) and Drew Hunter (46:16, 10h). 

Kiptoo has had a busy last month; he won the USATF 15k Championships on March 1 and then took fifth at the New York City Half Marathon on March 16. Klecker is in his first year on the roads, and he hasn’t taken higher than eighth in a road race this year.

Hunter, meanwhile, took this race as an over-distance opportunity. He revived his career last year by moving up to the 5,000 and 10,000 on the track. He said a road career is certainly on his mind for the future, but he’s focused on the track for now.

“This was enough humble pie to make me want to get back on the track,” Hunter said.