KERR & REEKIE DELIVER THIRD STRAIGHT SCOTTISH SWEEP AT FIFTH AVENUE MILE
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – Used with permission.
Editor’s Note: Watch replays on USATF.TV+.
NEW YORK (10-Sep) — For the third consecutive year athletes from Scotland won the men’s and women’s professional divisions of the New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile, held here for the 42nd time. On the men’s side reigning World Athletics 1500m champion Josh Kerr closed his dream 2023 season with a convincing two-second victory, running the fastest winning time at this event in 28 years: 3:47.9. Reekie, who finished fifth in the recent World Athletics Championships 800m, won for the second time in three years in a more tactical race, clocking 4:19.4. Both winners splashed their way to victory as the race was held on a wet roadway after several heavy downpours.
KERR OVERPOWERS FIELD
Kerr, 25, who represents the Brooks Beasts Track Club, made it clear before the race that he had unfinished business on Fifth Avenue. In last year’s race, he slipped and fell on the wet roadway at the start and only finished tenth. Today he got away cleanly and positioned himself near the front right away. He said that he and Beasts teammate Henry Wynne –who finished tenth– were outfitted with the right Brooks racing shoes for maximum grip in the wet.
“We were just sticking to the road all the way through,” Kerr told reporters with his shoes hanging around his neck.
As a steady rain came down, the race began to take shape. Amon Kemboi of Puma Elite Running made a little burst at the mid-point to collect the $1000 prime, but immediately eased up (he would finish 11th). The main field stayed together with Kerr at the front along with fellow Briton George Mills –running the race for the first time– and American veteran Johnny Gregorek. Kerr, who decided not to continue to the Wanda Diamond League final next weekend in Eugene, admitted that he came to today’s race mentally and physically tired after the media whirlwind which followed his victory in Budapest where he beat Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
“It’s been a lot every day,” Kerr explained.  “Obviously, very new to me to win a major (title). So, it’s been a lot of media every day and it’s been, like, mentally draining and tiring. You know, I committed to this race and I really wanted to do it, and I’m just mentally very tired.”
Still, he had plenty of physical energy in the tank today. When Mills…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at RunnerSpace News…