FLINT, Mich. - (August 28, 2010) - Fasil Bizuneh (Flagstaff, Ariz.) pulled away from 2010 USA Half Marathon champion Antonio Vega (Minneapolis, Minn.) just after seven miles to win the USA Men's 10 Mile title Saturday morning in Flint. The national championship was hosted by the Crim Festival of Races. Bizuneh, 30, ran 47 minutes, 29 seconds to finish fourth overall in the Open field.

With near perfect conditions greeting a race record field of more than 10,000 runners at the 34th edition, the field opened with a fairly relaxed first mile of 4:42 with Robert Letting, Julius Kogo and Kiprotich Kirui of Kenya leading the charge. Vega led the U.S. contingent of Bizuneh and Justin Young (Superior, Colo.) in the lead pack.

Shortly after two miles, Letting dropped a 4:32 mile to lead a break with Kogo and Kirui as Vega and Bizuneh led the chase pack about six seconds back.

Maintaining a pace between 4:32 and 4:35 from three to five miles, Letting and Kogo pulled away from Kirui, and Vega looked to be in charge of the chase pack about 30 seconds back.

After seven miles, Kogo, 25, tested Letting with a short surge, while Bizuneh made his move for the U.S. title. Over the final three miles, Kogo was clearly in charge of the overall race and Bizuneh increased his lead over Vega.

In the final mile, Kogo pulled away for the overall race win in 47:06 with Letting and Kirui taking second and third in 47:15 and 47:24 respectively.

Crossing the line in fourth, Bizuneh celebrated his first USA title, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Vega. Young easily took third in 47:49 followed by Fernando Cabada (Alamosa, Colo.) and Sergio Reyes (Los Osos, Calif.) in 48:30 and 48:32 respectively.