Run to Win

The annual Clam Festival 5 mile road race was this morning in Yarmouth, Maine. The temperatures were not nearly as high as they were in years past, but the high humidity made the race tough for the 932 finishers this year.

Despite the lack of some of the annual favorites in the race, there was a very deep field this year which led to an exciting finish. Jon Wilson went out hard but spent the majority of the race near the middle to back of the lead pack. He retook control on the trails and in the park as he came into the last mile of the race, however, and made it look easy as cruised in 12 seconds ahead of everybody else in 25:44. A total of 12 people ran under 27 minutes.

Kristin Barry had a little less competition near the end, finishing the race in 27:59. She was followed by Sheri Piers in 28:31.

It was interesting watching the race from behind the finish line this year, as this is a race that I have run every year since moving to Maine. It is generally one of the hotter races each year, falling as it does near the end of July, and it certainly led to some of the sweatiest chip bands that I’ve ever had to remove from runner’s legs.

I quickly stopped congratulating people on how they ran and instead just pointed them straight to the water once I had gotten their chips off. That was about the extent to what some of the people were able to understand. One of the runners put a whole in his singlet in an effort to take it off and thought he was supposed to turn in his bib number instead of his timing chip!

(Full Results - Photos: Fun Run (a) - Fun Run (b) - CD 1 - CD 2 - CD 3 - CD 4 - Awards - Finish Line)

Here is a quick breakdown of races today throughout Maine. I will update this page as I find more results. If you know of any races that are missing, please let me know in the comments so that I can add it! Same goes for any photo galleries.

The current tally of the number of runners that competed today in Maine: 5152

The LL Bean 4^th of July 10k in Freeport is first this year, since I decided to go back and race there after taking a few years off.
Ethan Hemphill once again took top honors, finishing in 32:36 with a 15 second margin. Kristin Barry led the rest of the women by 68 seconds with a time of 35:12. There were 918 finishers. (Full Results - Photos)

Next up is the 32^nd Bridgton 4 on the 4^th. Stan Pyle was looking to go under 20 minutes today, but he missed the mark. He can’t be too upset, though, because he beat some very stiff competition to win the race in 20:26, winning by only 2 seconds. Carry Buterbaugh had about a half minute lead with her winning time of 23:26. There were 1670 finishers. (Full Results - Race Website - Photos: CD1 - CD2 - CD3 - CD4 - CD5 - CD6 - CD7 )

The York 4 on the 4th also had a pretty good draw, with 787 finishers. Bob Winn had a 19 second lead with his winning time of 21:10, while Amy Gosztyla had to fight for her 4 second winning time of 22:51. (Full Results)

The Goose Rocks Beach Association puts on an annual 5k in Kennebunkport, and it also had a large draw with 777 finishers. The entire field got “Huppeed” when Nathan Huppe crossed the line in 15:49, 13 seconds ahead of 2^nd place. Abby Iselborn had a similar lead over the rest of the women with her winning time of 18:22. (Full Results - Race Website)

The Walter Hunt Memorial 3k in Brewer was led by Ruben Sanca in 8:25, giving him a win by 7 seconds. Hilary Maxim had a 19 second lead with her winning time of 10:27. There were 472 finishers. (Full Results)

The Friends on the 4^th 5k, put on by the Friends of the Cobbosse Watershed in Winthrop, was won by 16 year old Luke Fontaine in 16:16. He won by less than a half second. Lauren Laroche had a slightly larger lead of 18 seconds to take the women’s title. There were 405 finishers. (Full Results - Race Website)

There were 107 finishers in the Firecracker 5k in Thomaston. Darren Winchenbach won the race in 19:45. (Full Results - Video - Photos)

There was a 5.1 mile race in Brooks called Let Freedom Ring. There were 16 finishers, led by Kevin Patrick who won with over a 4 minute lead in 28:34. (Full Results - Photos & Video)

There were 8 teams of 8 legs each in the 6^th Annual Mount Desert Island Relay, a 61.09 mile race. I have not yet had a chance to figure out how many people ran more than one leg but there are at least a few so there were less than 64 competitors. The Spudland Racers won by over an hour, setting a course record. (Full Results [pdf])

I am still awaiting the results of the Sebec Village 4th of July 5k.

Even with the results of at least 3 1 races still pending, there are over 100 500 more people hitting the streets for a race today than ran last year. This is great for the sport. I am looking forward to seeing what the final tally comes to; currently, we know that at least 4624 5152 people finished a race today.

Updates to follow.

This morning was the LL Bean 4^th of July 10k, which I have not run for the past few years. As I said back in 2005, this course is not quite flat:

Today was far and away the best running weather that I have ever had on this course. It was humid, but the temperatures never got too high and the last mile or so down Main Street did not involve thundering through the relentless sun as it usually does. There was a nice breeze and it felt pretty good.

There were 918 finishers this year, the majority of whom managed to get a free pair of New Balance 1062 running sneakers for being one of the first 500 people to register for the race. The post-race refreshments were a little meager and didn’t really last long enough, although there were enough popsicles for the kids at the end of the 1 mile fun run which is the important part.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Jeanne Hackett interviewed Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry this evening at Peak Performance Multisport as part of her “A Running Conversation” lecture series.

The talk went for about 50 minutes, with a little better than half of that time devoted to Kristin and Sheri answering Jeanne’s questions and the rest of the time devoted to answering audience questions. The topics centered mostly around the Olympic Marathon Trials this past April in Boston, including the training and discipline that it took to get there.

This year’s Olympic Marathon Trials was the 7^th running for the women, and was the second time that 4 women from Maine competed. (For the trivia buffs, the other time was in 1996.) The evening began with a quick background on all 4 ladies and the stories that they brought with them to the Trials.

The Stories

Emily LeVan was the top Maine qualifier, having run extremely well in Boston in 2005 and 2006. She had the 12^th fastest qualifying time for any of the competitors who ran. She was also dealt a large emotional blow last November when she discovered that her 4 year old daughter had Leukemia. Emily and her daughter Maddie started the Two Trials website in order to raise money for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program, and they far exceeded their goals to raise a total of over $77,000 to date. (Click here to listen to an interview with Emily.)

Joan Benoit Samuelson won the first women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984, and has qualified for every Trials since then. She has competed in all but 2 of them. She was the oldest runner in the field at 1 week shy of 51 years old, and set an age group record for the marathon on her way to beating her goal of running a sub-2:50. She has a long and storied history with the Boston Marathon, and she wanted to finish her competitive marathon career in the city where it all began.

Kristin and Sheri’s stories are intertwined, because the two of them train and race together constantly. After months of training, they both went to run in the Philadelphia Marathon and crossed the line together with Trials qualifying times. Both women are in their mid-30s, both women work, and both of them managed to fit in their training around caring for their children.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry both ran very well at the Olympic Marathon Trials back a few weeks ago in Boston. They will be offering a retrospective tomorrow evening (Tuesday, May 13^th, 2008) at Peak Performance Multisport on Marginal Way in Portland, Maine.

The event is free and open to the public, and will begin at 6:00 in the evening. You can RSVP at the Peak Performance Website with the option of contributing a question that you would like answered during the panel.

More information and to RSVP visit:
www.mypeakmultisport.com

(Click here for more photos from the Olympic Marathon Trials)

The Sea Dogs Mother’s Day 5k was this morning at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine. The weather was absolutely beautiful, with clear skies and warm temperatures. The race saw a record number of entrants for I don’t know how many years in a row now, with 1780 runners pre-registered and over 2200 runners registered for the race. There were 1926 finishers. Next year may have to involve a cap to the number of entrants into the race.

Dirigo had a very good showing, capturing 4 of the top 5 positions. Ethan Hemphill led the way, beating Judson Cake by 5 seconds to win in 15:14.

On the women’s side, the top 3 women were all Dirigo runners. Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry were neck and neck, both finishing in 17:26 with Carry Buterbaugh coming in 33 seconds later in 17:59.

I did not run today. I spent a few hours behind the table in preregistration before the race, and then prevented a small Korean woman from convincing her husband to run everybody over as she waited to cross the race course. Thankfully, I was able to refer her to the officer across the street when she paused to catch her breath, so she started screaming at him instead.

(Official Site - Full Results - Videos - Photos: Set 1 - Set 2 - Set 3 - Set 4)

Today was the women’s Olympic Marathon Trials.

Congratulations to all of the women that finished!

Magdalena Lewy Boulet led most of the race, building a 40 second lead within 4 miles and extending that to almost 2 minutes throughout the race. In the last lap and a half, though, Deena Kastor dropped a few hammers and sped by her to win the race in 2:29:35. Blake Russell was 3^rd and will also represent the US in Beijing.

The Maine women had great races. Sheri Piers turned on the afterburners and ran a speedy 2:38:46, finishing 16^th overall. Emily LeVan was 67^th in 2:45:45, followed by Kristin Barry in 2:46:58 and a 74^th place finish. Joan Benoit Samuelson made her 2:50 goal, finishing with a time of 2:49:08 barely a week before her 51^st birthday. Great job ladies!

I’ll have more details later as well as a link to where you can view all of the over 200 photos that I took in a few days. In the meantime, you can look at the full list of results here: Boston Trials 2008 Results Page

Dirigo RC had a good showing this weekend with strong performances in the Philadelphia Marathon and the New England Cross Country Championships.

Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry both ran very strong marathons in Philadelphia, starting and finishing together in 2:45:36! They were 59^th and 60^th overall, placing 8^th and 9^th for the women’s race. There were 2726 women in the race and 6677 finishers overall. The 2008 qualifying time for the women’s Olympic Marathon Trials is 2:47:00 or better for a “B” standard, which both Sheri and Kristin made with ease! Now there will be two more great runners to cheer on in April on the day before the Boston Marathon.

Speaking of Boston, this weekend was the 2007 USATF New England Cross Country Championships. Dirigo won the Masters 8k championship race after being led by strong performances from Todd Coffin and Pete Bottomley. The men’s open team was led by Kirby Davis in the 10k.