Dathan Ritzenhein winning the 2007 UAE Healthy Kidney 10K. 

Since 2005, the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K has been the site for some of the world’s fastest road 10K performances. With the aim to raise awareness for kidney disease and organ donation, the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K has hosted some of the world’s fastest road runners for 10 years. Here are some of the best moments from UAE Healthy Kidney 10K event history:

 

2005 - Australian Olympian Craig Mottram won the first ever UAE Healthy Kidney 10K in 28:28, the second-fastest 10K time ever recorded in Central Park at the time. In 2005 Mottram went on to win a bronze medal in the 5K at the World Championships and two Australian national records in the mile (3:48) and two mile (8:11). 

 

2006 - Mottram defended his title with a decisive win over now-defending Olympic champion Mo Farah, who trailed 24 seconds behind the Australian. Mottram’s finishing time of 28:13 was just three seconds away from the then-Central Park 10K record of 28:10 set by Paul Koech in 1997. 

 

2007 - World half marathon bronze medalist Dathan Ritzenhein beat two-time race champion Mottram with a finishing time of 28:08, an event record and two seconds faster than Koech’s previous Central Park 10K record. Later that year, Ritzenhein would return to Central Park in November to make the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon. This year, Ritzenhein will be helping FloTrack’s Ryan Fenton announce the men’s and women’s races live on FloTrack. 

 

2009 - Ritzenhein’s record was shattered by Tadese Tola of Ethiopia who broke the then-course record by a whopping 22 seconds, and beat runner-up Patrick Makau by 40 seconds, the largest winning margin in event history. 

 

2010 - Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam threw down another record-breaking performance with a hard kick past Peter Kamais to win the race in 27:42, six seconds ahead of the then-course record. Six months later, Gebremariam would return to New York to win the NYC Marathon in 2:08:14. 

 

2011 - In one of the most anticipated match-ups in UAE Healthy Kidney history, Leonard Patrick Komon and Micah Kogo dueled in Central Park as two of the fastest 10K road runners in the world. Komon out-ran Kogo in an event and world record time of 27:35. 

 

2012 - Daniele Meucci of Italy out-kicked then Iona standout Leonard Korir of Kenya who finished the race and immediately rushed to his college graduation. Kori will return to compete in this year’s UAE Healthy Kidney 10K race. 

 

2014 - For the first time in event history, the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K expanded by adding a professional women’s field that included Kenyan Joyce Chepkirui who won the race in 31:17. Her winning time took down the course record by two minutes. 

 

The men’s race included an exciting match-up between defending champion Leonard Patrick Komon and Stephen Sambu. Sambu ultimately kicked past Komon and nearly took down the event record with his finishing time of 27:39. After finishing third the year before, the performance was a huge stepping stone for the former Arizona All American. 

 

Sambu and Chepkirui are both returning for this year’s competition to defend their UAE Healthy Kidney 10K titles. 

 

 

Watch the 2015 UAE Healthy Kidney 10K LIVE on FloTrack Saturday May 30 at 9:00 a.m. ET!