Run to Win

Logan Price (12^th: 16:56)

The 10^th Annual Kerryman Pub 5k Road Race (and Mary’s Walk) was yesterday in Saco, Maine. Some decent weather and good competition led to some blazing fast times in a March race, with a dozen people running under 17 minutes.

The race also appealed to a younger demographic than is usually the case in this area, with only 2 runners in the top 10 over the age of 30 and 4 runners in the top 20 that were 16 or younger! There were a total of 737 finishers.

Despite the large number of fast times, the course record was safe for the first time in years. Casey Carroll was the overall winner with a time of 15:49, outsprinting Chris Harmon and Jeff Sprague by only 5 seconds.

Jenna Desrochers had a slightly more comfortable lead in the women’s race, coming through in 19:22. She was 13 seconds ahead of 13-year old Emily Durgin.

Photo Credit: Don Penta (Set 1 – Set 2)
Results: Full – Top 10 M&F – Age Group

The Eastern States 20 Miler and half marathon was today. Temperatures were in the low to mid 40s with a slight but negligible headwind. Casey Carroll outsprinted Kibrom Temeslo over the last few miles to win in 1:54:51. Megah Doshi of the Greater Boston Track Club posted an impressive 12 minutes over 2^nd place to win the women’s division. Casey Moulton, who holds the 20 mile course record, won the half marathon in 1:07:57. Leslie Dillon won her first half-marathon in 1:26:48. There were 507 finishers in the 20 miler and 184 half-marathon finishers.

I really enjoyed this race. They do a lot of things right, despite a few difficulties here and there. The course has a few small hills early on and one late in the course, but it is basically flat the entire way. There are a few trestle bridges over the first few miles that are difficult to run across, and late in the race traffic is very close when crossing another bridge. Quite a bit of the course has a steep camber, but a few places have a bit of a shoulder that you can run on instead of the road.

The race has some amazing views along the way. A lot of the race goes through some neighborhoods, but there are plenty of ocean views as you get along. The entire race is along the coastline, the closer to Massachussetts that you get, the more ocean that you can see as you are running.
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