Run to Win

It has now been a week since the second running of the Cox Sports Marathon in Providence, Rhode Island. This is the race that I won last year, and I was looking to repeat again this year.

New Course Analysis

The course this year was completely different than last year, with a different start and finish line and much more extensive use of the local paved trail system. Rather than going north of Providence through Pawtucket, the course spent more time towards the South near Barrington. All in all, I rather liked the new course despite taking some of the hills away. There were a few problems with the new course, though.
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The weather this morning for Eliot was much better than what the forecasts had called for. Rather than the torrential downpours and wind we were expecting, the runners were treated to a very humid but relatively cool and very calm morning with temperatures in the low 60s. Fog may have blanketed everything and all of the events for the Eliot Festival Days (except for the race) may have been canceled, but 412 runners still came out to run.

The men’s field was very competitive, with 13 runners going sub-16. Not quite the 25 sub-16s of 2005, but a good jump on the past few years where only 7 or 8 sub-16 runners competed. Louis Luchini was unchallenged at the finish line in 14:39, while Robert Edgerton only managed to edge out Patrick Moulton by 1 second with a time of 14:53.

Carry Buterbaugh also had a strong lead at the finish line, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Johanna Fickenscher in 18:11. Christine Reaser took 3^rd place in 19:13.

In team racing, Dirigo won the day no matter how you scored the race. It seems as though they went on finishing time at the awards ceremony, but the final results have the scores age graded (as they were supposed to.) All that meant was that 2 of our 3 scorers were different. PR Racing finished in 2^nd place, about 3 and a half minutes back.

The food at the end of the race was pretty good, with plenty of fruit, bagels, bread, pasta salad, cookies, and soup for all of the runners. There was even some left after people finished their cool downs.

I am not sure if there was a problem with the sponsorship, though, because the prize structure did not seem to pan out. The race announced that it would pay out 10 places, male and female, but they decided only to pay out 5 places and also reduced the money earned at that. This does not strike me as a good way to convince top talent to return to your race, especially with the constant turnover in race directorship. I think that Eliot’s best days may be past, which is shame because it used to be such a good showcase for New England talent.

My own race went well, but I still failed to meet my season goal. I finished in 16:30, going out a few seconds slower than I wanted and then falling apart near the end. One of my teammates kept himself motivated at the end by watching my form fall apart in the last half mile, although I still kept my lead on him as I struggled to the finish line.

(Full Results – Team Results – Official Photos – Photos & Videos)

Casey Moulton
Photo #58 by Don PentaTomorrow morning, the men’s Olympic Marathon Trials will begin at 7:35 EDT. 179 men have run qualifying times to compete in the event, and only 3 of them will be able to continue on to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

The race will be more interesting than usual because only 138 of the athletes have qualified by running a marathon. This will be the first marathon for some of the other 40 runners, who were able to qualify for the trials this year by running a fast 10k or 5k.

The only way to get an “A” qualifying standard was to run a sub 2:20:00 marathon. A sub 2:22:00 marathon, 13:40 5k, or 28:45 10k would qualify for a “B” standard, which gives an athlete the right to compete in the trials but not to any assistance getting there.

NBC will be covering the event throughout the day (as well as the New York City Marathon on Sunday) and will be streaming the event over the web from start to finish. There will also be a recap on your local NBC affiliate from 2:00-2:30 p.m. EDT.

The course starts at 5^th Ave and 50^th, and takes a 1.5 mile trip through the City before getting into Central Park. The course inside of Central Park consists of 5 loops, the first of which cuts through at 72^nd Street and the rest of which follow the outer loop. The race ends at the Tavern on the Green.

Here are a few relevant sites to check out tonight and tomorrow morning before the race starts:

• Watch the Race – at 7:25 tomorrow morning a link will go live from this page that will begin streaming the race over their website. The Olympic Trials are free; if you want to watch the marathon on Sunday, then you will have to pay $5.
• List of Eligible Athletes – all of the athletes that have run a qualifying time (and where) and are eligible to compete this weekend.
• Runner Bios – learn more about the race favorites.
• NBC Olympics Marathon Page – News and links on the trials by the broadcasters.
• USATF Marathon Trials News – News and links on the trials by USATF.
• Course Map (pdf) – download the course map.

We have a very strong crowd this year, so I hope that Central Park can provide some good entertainment and that it will bring forward the 3 best contenders for next year’s games. I really hope that we can bring home a medal or two in this event.

Good luck to Casey and Patrick Moulton! They both ran their qualifying times at the Freescale Austin Marathon in February of 2006. I’m not sure if I have ever raced Patrick, but Casey has beaten me pretty handily a few times.

The Presidential Road Race is a 5 miler in Kennebunkport Maine. The race was missing its perennial favorite to win, Ethan Hemphill, who had not lost the race since 2002. Beautiful weather helped Patrick Moulton of Pelham, New Hampshire cruise into a 4 minute and 39 second victory over Tom Noonan of Steep Falls. They ran 24:47 and 29:26, respectively.

Katie Twarog of Providence won the women’s race and was third overall in 29:53, followed by Christine Snow-Reaser in 31:47.

(Full Results)