NEW YORK CITY, October 31 — Rachael Rudel put an exclamation point on her breakout season and NCAA star Habtom Samuel continued an exceptional transition to the professional level at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K, a New York Road Runners tune-up held the day before (and sharing the same Central Park finish line as) the NYC Marathon. Both runners earned $6000 for their wins.
On a comfortably cool (50F/10C) but windy morning, the men’s field went off first from the United Nations. Samuel, of Eritrea, and defending champion Amon Kemboi (formerly of Kenya but now a U.S. citizen) went to the front of a the 10-man pack down 42nd Street. When they turned north up 6th Avenue just before the mile mark Samuel briefly surged, but the group quickly bunched back up.
It wasn’t until they entered Central Park at about 2 miles that the racing began. Samuel made a decisive surge that almost immediately strung out the field. “I tried to make it an honest race, but it was really windy,” said Samuel, who was initially targeting a 13:10 clocking, which would have been well under the course record (13:23.5). “It didn’t go as I planned, so I changed my plan, [and decided] OK, let me just think about the win only.”
He ran unchallenged over the hilly final mile and crossed the line in 13:31, followed by Kenyan Edwin Kurgat (13:38), Kemboi (13:40) and Australians Jackson Sharp (13:41) and Morgan McDonald (13:46).
“When I made the move I didn’t know who was following me and we had a long way to go, but I wasn’t doubting myself,” said Samuel, who won five NCAA titles across cross country, indoor and outdoor track for New Mexico before turning pro this summer. “I wanted to make it hard. I knew they were following me, so I just pushed more and more.”
Samuel will graduate from New Mexico in December then move to Flagstaff, Arizona, to train full-time with the Hoka NAZ Elite team. His pro career has already gotten off to a great start with August wins at the Beach to Beacon 10K in Maine and the Falmouth Road Race 7M in Massachusetts.
Starting 5 minutes after the men, the women’s race featured a similar trajectory, with a tightly bunched group of nine runners feeling each other out in the early going. Josette Andrews took point as the nominal leader.
“I didn’t really want to push it hard too hard. I just wanted to run with the pack,” said Andrews, who after dealing with a series of injuries earlier in the year had returned to racing in September with an encouraging runner-up finish in the 5th Avenue Mile. “I know people have said that the race really takes off in that last mile once we turn into Central Park.”
Indeed, the tempo quickened on that final mile climb to the finish. Andrews maintained her position at the front, with fellow Americans Rudel, Ednah Kurgat and Bailey Hertenstein and Kenyan Hilda Olemomoi still in contention.
“I heard everyone’s breath get a lot heavier. And… that’s when it’s time to go,” said Rudel. “At 800 [to go] I was like, ‘Rachael, you only have two laps left on the track. Just black out and go, you have no excuse.’”
Nobody could match her final push and she broke the finish line tape — held on one side by a costumed Cookie Monster mascot in a perfect Halloween touch — in 15:35.
“I’m very strong with hills. I don’t do very well with flat courses,” she said. “I like something that has hazards, give me a lot of sharp hills. So we knew getting into the park after mile 2, that was when I would have my advantage.”
Andrews (15:41) took 2nd, just ahead of Kurgat (15:42), with Hertenstein (15:46) and Olemomoi (15:47) rounding out the top 5.
The 32-year-old Rudel was the Mountain West 10,000 champion for Colorado State back in 2014, but struggled with illness, injuries and eating disorders for nearly a decade before getting back into serious running a few years ago. She began working with new coaches, David and Megan Roche, last winter and the results have been emphatic.
The Denver, Colorado-based Rudel’s ’26 road racing campaign has included wins at the USATF 20K Championships in September (earning her a spot on Team USA for the ’27 World Road Running Championships in Yangzhou, China) and the Boston 10K for Women in October in an impressive 31:12.
While her training volume has increased under the Roches (she was previously running just 3 days a week along with cross training), she credits their emotional support as the biggest factor in her success.
“I’ve built up the aerobic base. So physically they have been helping me a ton, but it’s more the mental side,” she said. “Running is mental and you need to have unconditional love and support which are helping build you up into something great.… It really was the mental change that happened this year. I took 8 years off to just figure out my stuff and figure out how to learn to love running again.”
DASH TO THE FINISH LINE 5K MEN’S RESULTS
1. Habtom Samuel (Eri) 13:31; 2. Edwin Kurgat (Ken) 13:38; 3. Amon Kemboi (Ken) 13:40; 4. Jackson Sharp (Aus) 13:41; 5. Morgan McDonald (Aus) 13:46; 6. Anthony Camerieri (US) 13:46; 7. Bob Liking (US) 13:47; 8. Reid Buchanan (US) 13:49.
DASH TO THE FINISH LINE 5K WOMEN’S RESULTS
1. Rachael Rudel (US) 15:35; 2. Josette Andrews (US) 15:41; 3. Ednah Kurgat (US) 15:42; 4. Bailey Hertenstein (US) 15:46; 5. Hilda Olemomoi (Ken) 15:47; 6. Madie Boreman (US) 15:50; 7. Annie Rodenfels (US) 16:03; 8. Ella Donaghu (US) 16:09.
