Run to Win

This year’s Lewiston/Auburn Triple Crown 5k Race Series has now gotten underway with this morning’s YMCA Fit Fest. The race saw some tremendous growth, with over twice as many finishers this year as there was last year (534 and 249, respectively.)

Henry Gaudion made the trip all the way from Dover-Foxcroft to win the race in 16:33, only 3 seconds behind his 5k PR from cross country season. He’s going to have a great senior year and some good college running to look forward to!

Henry had taken over the lead about 2/3 of a mile into the race as he came up on my shoulder with my fellow Dirigo runner Dan Crooker (4^th, 17:12) and we ran down the rabbit that had gone out way too hard.

We all felt pretty comfortable with the 5:11 first mile, and other than a short surge down a steep hill on Locust Street Henry and Dan were seemingly running away with the race.

By the second mile, though, I’d started to reel Dan in and tried to work my way up to Henry. I though with about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to go that I might be able to do it; I was feeling strong. Henry dropped a hammer, though, and ran a 4:51 3^rd mile (which was realistically about 5 flat given that the 3^rd mile marker was a bit early.)

Henry wound up beating me by 13 seconds as I came through in second place in 16:46, with 3^rd place Ryan Fitzsimons of Turner another 22 seconds back from there.

Despite coming into the race with some lingering injuries, last year’s Triple Crown champion Tina Meserve won the race pretty handily in 19:55.

The battle between 2^nd and 3^rd was much tighter, though, with Kacie Herrick of Portland edging out local runner Kelley St. Hiliare by only 3 seconds to take 2^nd place in 20:38.

The next race in the Triple Crown Series is Emily’s Run on July 26^th.

(More Info: Full Results – Triple Crown 5k – Photos – More Photos)

The L/A Bridge Run was this morning, concluding the 1^st Annual Lewiston/Auburn Triple Crown racing series. Conditions for the race were favorable, with temperatures in the low 60s, overcast skies, and only a very light breeze albeit with a bit of humidity mixed in.

Ethan Hemphill returned again this year to claim the victory, splitting the distance between his performances from the last two years to finish in 15:29, 20 seconds ahead of Nicholas Wheeler. The race was a little closer on the women’s side, where Lauren LaRoche’s 18:40 was only 15 seconds ahead of Tina Meserve.

There were a few guys that went out for the cameras at the beginning of the race but who quickly faded (all but one not even making it to the bridge before falling back,) but a lead pack of 5 runners quickly formed and put a little distance on the field after going through the first kilometer in 3:05.

Towards the end of the second kilometer, I was behind the pack which had whittled down to 3 guys with a few others starting to string themselves out. I ran it in 3:12, slower than I wanted to go but still on pace.

Everything fell apart by 3k, though and I barely managed to hang on for the rest of the race. I got passed by a few guys and finished in 6^th place overall with a time that was at least 45 seconds too slow. Most of the people that I spoke to felt that they had all run slower than they thought they would going into the day, but that is small consolation.

I did secure a 3^rd place finish in the Triple Crown Series, however.

Here were the final standings for the 3 races:

(Full Results – Triple Crown Results – Photo Credit: Erin Moore – Penta Photos: Kids Race – Start Line – Finish Line 1, 2, 3 – DCY: Photos & Video)

This morning got warm quite quickly with the humidity rising fast for the start of the Lewiston/Auburn 5k Bridge Run. 353 people decided that it would be a good idea to get out and run first thing in the morning, which is almost 60 people more than last year. The race begins on Riverside Street past the Rolodome on the Auburn side of the river, and loops back and forth over the bridges between Lewiston and Back.

The lead pack took the first mile between 5:00 and 5:05; the second mile was not accurately marked.

Ethan Hemphill (15:52) repeated his performance with last year’s win, although he was a good 38 seconds shy of last year’s record setting time. The former women’s record holder, Tina Meserve (18:19) captured first place but couldn’t regain her record in the heat.

I managed to finish in a respectable 16:38 for a 3^rd place finish.

(Full Results – Photos: Set 1 – Set 2 – Set 3 – set 1 not yet available – Auburn Photo Finish)

The L-A 5K Bridge Run was this morning, and course records were set on both sides of the gender line. Kristen Barry won the race in 17:19 to beat the women’s 2002 record of 17:36 set by Tina Meserve, and Ethan Hemphill broke Scott Brown’s 2003 record of 15:44 by 30 seconds, coming in at 15:14. Pete Bottomley followed him by over a minute, followed closely by Paul Johnson. The second woman, Sheri Piers, was about 9 seconds behind Kristin Barry.

Full results can be seen at the Maine Track Club website. There were 294 finishers.