By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
(13-Aug) — Elite milers and marathoners alike will flock to Cape Cod this weekend for the Falmouth Track Festival on Friday and the ASICS Falmouth Road Race on Sunday. The Track Festival will be held for the 29th time and features elite miles for men and women, while the 7-mile road race will celebrate its 53rd* edition. The road race was founded in 1973 and boasts a beautiful coastal course from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights. The 2024 edition had 11,166 finishers making it one of the largest races in New England.
TRACK FESTIVAL COULD PRODUCE FAST MILES
The Track Festival will be held at Falmouth High School, and many athletes have put up fast times on the James T. Kalperis Track. The meet records are 3:52.97 for the men (Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Canada in 2021), and 4:23.11 for the women (Dorcas Ewoi of Kenya in 2024). Both those records are under threat this year, and the race winners will receive $5,000 in prize money plus the chance for additional time bonuses.
Leading the men’s field is Sam Prakel (adidas), the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships bronze medalist in the mile. The 30 year-old, who finished ninth in the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China last March, set a 1500m personal best of 3:33.93 last month and has a career-best mile time of 3:50.94.
Prakel should get a strong challenge from Kenya’s Amon Kemboi (Puma Elite Running) who set PB’s in both the 1500m (3:33.49) and mile (3:53.57) this year. Additionally, Kemboi just ran a personal best 12:58.51 for 5000m in Oordegem, Belgium, three days ago.
Other top entrants include Dylan Jacobs (On Athletics Club), who was fifth in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in the 3000m, but has yet to run a fast mile; Luke Houser (Atlanta Track Club Elite), the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m bronze medalist; Australia’s Jack Anstey (Under Armour/Dark Sky Distance) who has a mile PB of 3:51.51; and Morgan Beadlescomb (adidas), who ran a personal best 3:34.20 for 1500m last month and has a mile PB of 3:52.03. Both Jacobs and Beadlescomb plan to double back for the road race on Sunday.
Olympians Courtney Frerichs and Allie Wilson, both of the Nike Swoosh Track Club, are the leading names for the women’s elite mile. Frerichs, 32, won the silver medal in the steeplechase at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and Wilson, 29, made it to the repechage round of the 800m at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Frerichs has a mile PB of 4:35.01 (4:07.39 for 1500m), while Wilson has run 4:26.04.
Also hoping to be in the mix for the win will be Angel Piccirillo (Puma Elite Running), who just ran a mile PB of 4:25.13 at Sir Walter Miler last Friday in Raleigh; Eleanor Fulton (ASICS), who has a mile PB of 4:23.65; and Annika Reiss (Under Armour/Dark Sky Distance), who was most recently fifth in the Guardian Mile on the road in Cleveland.
ROAD RACE WELCOMES BACK LEGENDS & PAST CHAMPIONS
Two of the best entrants for Sunday’s road race, Edna Kiplagat (Puma) and Vivian Cheruiyot (Puma), are both running well past 40 years-old. Kiplagat, 45, was twice the World Athletics Championships gold medalist in the marathon (2011 and 2013), while Cheruiyot, 41, has won six world titles and has four Olympic medals. Kiplagat has run Falmouth seven times, and has made the podium five times. She won the race in 2021.
“I always look forward to returning to Falmouth,” said Kiplagat, through a statement provided by race organizers. “The course and conditions are tough, with a good field… but I love racing like this.”
Cheruiyot, who has seemingly done it all, has never run at Falmouth. However, she is a gifted road runner with a road 10-K best of 30:47. She ran 31:35 in Manchester in the U.K. back in May and was fifth at the TCS London Marathon in April.
Other key women in the race are Great Britain’s Jessica Warner-Judd (Hoka One One), eighth in the 2023 World Athletics Championships 10,000m; Susanna Sullivan (Brooks), who is preparing for the 2025 World Athletics Championships Marathon; Emma Grace Hurley (ASICS), who finished second at the USATF Half-Marathon Championships last March; Natosha Rogers (Puma), who ran a personal best 2:23:51 for the marathon in Nagoya last March; and Ethiopia’s Melknat Wudu (adidas), who finished second at Falmouth last year.
On the men’s side Kenya’s Wesley Kiptoo (Hoka Northern Arizona Elite) looks like the man to beat. Kiptoo, 29, won in Falmouth in 2023 and tied Gilbert Okari’s course record set back in 2004. Kiptoo has run well this year, including two sub-61:00 half-marathons and a win at the Gate River Run 15-K in Jacksonville last March.
“I cannot wait to return to Falmouth in pursuit of my second victory,” said the Flagstaff-based Kiptoo, through a press release. “I also cannot wait to see the organizers, host family, and all of the volunteers and spectators who make me want to come back to Falmouth every year.”
Two other Flagstaff residents, Eritrea’s Yemane Haileselassie (adidas/McKirdy Trained), and Biya Simbassa (ASICS) would also like to win in Falmouth. Haileselassie, 27, the 2024 Honolulu Marathon champion, finished fourth at Falmouth last year. Simbassa, 32, is a two-time USATF 10-K road running champion and is the fourth-fastest marathoner in USA history.
There is a lot of depth in the men’s field, including Kenya’s Patrick Kiprop (Unattached), the reigning AJC Peachtree Road Race Champion; Ahmed Muhumed (Hoka NAZ Elite), who has a 10,000m PB of 27:03.19; Zach Panning (Hansons-Brooks), who finished fourth at the 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon; Zouhair Talbi (ASICS), the 2024 Chevron Houston Marathon champion; and Kenya’s Alex Masai (Hoka NAZ Elite), who ran a 2:08:03 personal best at the NN Rotterdam Marathon last April.
“Legends are made in Falmouth and legends return to Falmouth,” said Scott Ghelfi, president of Falmouth Road Race, Inc. through a statement. “It’s good to see some familiar faces coming back this year, but equally as exciting to see what first-time Falmouth runners might contend for the win.”
The Falmouth Road Race, a World Athletics Label Road Race, has a generous prize money purse featuring a first prize of $10,000 ($7500 for second and $6000) for third. The top three USA finishers will receive $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, and can “double dip” with open prize money.
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*The 2020 edition was virtual
PHOTO: The elite women’s start of the 2024 Falmouth Road Race (LOC photo)
ENDS
Falmouth_2024_Start_Photo_Courtesy.jpg
