The table in the back of the Folsom Field club level was swarming with kids, ice cream bars and happy Romanians.

The contingent had good reason to celebrate on a rainy Monday afternoon. The table was $15,000 richer after the three women there -- Luminita Talpos, Lidia Simon and Constantina Tomescu-Dita -- won the team title for Romania at the 30th Bolder Boulder 10K. Plus, the trio of Beijing-bound Boulder County runners enjoyed the rare opportunity of spending the post-race festivities with their families and friends.

"Sometimes we can be together, and it's nice when we only have to drive 20 or 25 minutes to race and be together," said Tomescu-Dita, who lives in Erie and finished 10th Monday. "When we can meet and be with our kids, it's great."

The Romanians scored 18 points to beat second-place Kenya, which scored 26 and was led by Millicent Gathoni. Gathoni won the race by four seconds, in a time of 32 minutes, 53 seconds, to become the second consecutive Kenyan to win a Bolder title and fifth overall.

She battled with Ethiopia's Amane Gobena before pulling away in Folsom Field to finally break the tape. The two were shoulder to shoulder asthey passed Frank Shorter's statue and stayed close on the hill up to Folsom Field. But the Kenyan was never worried.

"I felt very much in control," Gathoni -- who picked up her first win outside Kenya -- said through an interpreter. "I knew the Ethiopian girl was strong, but I felt like I would be in control when it came down to the end."

The cool weather made for ideal running conditions. Nine women ran sub-34-minute races, which meant extra money for several of them. The race offered time bonuses for the first time this year and doled out $6,000 for those. Gathoni had the biggest pay day, with $7,583, and Talpos, who finished third in 33:22, took $7,250 home to Longmont.

Three-time Bolder winner Deena Kastor couldn't make it four titles Monday and finished seventh in 33:44. She was the race's top American five weeks after winning the Olympic Trials marathon, and that race in the Beijing Olympics is her sole focus. That meant Monday's run was more for fun than results.

"We know it's our profession to go to races and to run, but deep in our hearts this is what we love to do, and this is really a celebration of running for us," Kastor said.

Kastor said Monday's race was a good way to begin her final stretch of training. Running in a competitive, international field at altitude was "an incentive for us to get back home and get some work under our belts," the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., resident said.

The race's winner also enjoyed being in the field, running in awe of the American bronze medalist. Gathoni said running with Kastor was "like running with (Kenyan legend) Paul Tergat."

Kastor will be joined in the Beijing marathon by the three Romanians, who will remain in Boulder County to train leading up to the Olympics. Simon, who won the Bolder Boulder pro race in 1999 and the citizens race in 2004, already has a marathon silver medal from the Sydney Olympics and is hoping to do her country proud again.

"In the Olympics, you always want to do the best you can do," said Simon, who was fifth in 33:31. "You want it to be important because we come from a small country, so when you do well, it always makes the sport bigger."