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The race was under torrential downpour currently pounding Nairobi.
A pack of more than 30 athletes braved through the drizzly conditions at the Kasarani Stadium for the 10,000m race on the second day of the sixth Athletics Kenya weekend meet.
After three laps, the leading pack started to drop as Johnstone Melly looked comfortable leading the pack with Shadrach Koech slowly following behind with the aim of closing the little gap opened.
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Inside the fifth lap, the lead pack had six athletes including Koech, Melly, and Maxon Kipng'etich among the other two athletes. The chasing group consisted of more than 10 athletes each seeking to close the gap that was slowly widening.
After the seventh lap, one athlete had dropped from the pack and Melly was still leading the group looking poised and ready for title contention even though he still had a long way to go.
With 15 laps to go, Koech took the mantle and was now leading the pack of the five strong runners. However, Melly had not given up as he battled hard to close in on the gap his compatriot was opening.
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Kipng'etich was closely following behind with the hope of keeping up with the two men who were now in a class of their own.
With seven laps to go, Koech slowly opened a gap between him and his closest challenger but Melly was chasing hot on his heels. Kipng'etich was comfortably resting behind the duo before Melly turned the tables and overtook Koech to take the mantle as the race intensified.
However, his reign was short-lived as Koech took assumed the lead once again and opened a huge gap between him and the duo of Melly and Kipng'etich.
Two laps to go in the hotly contested race, Kipng'etich had other plans and was slowly going for the top honours. He then edged Melly first and was going head to head with Koech before unleashing a finishing kick to cruise to the finish line in 28:16.08. Koech and Melly settled for second and third places respectively.
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Kipng'etich expressed his excitement about achieving top honours in the race despite the poor weather conditions.
"I am very excited to have won this race. I have lowered my time and that was my main goal coming into this race," he said.
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