Ethan Hemphill won the 41^st running of the Yarmouth Clam Festival Classic. Yarmouth was covered in fog a few hours before the race, and it managed to burn off at just the perfect rate to have a nice and humid Clam Festival Classic 5 mile race. By the time we started our cool down, it had cooled off and was actually quite pleasant for running conditions. The official results are not online yet for the Yarmouth Clam Festival, but here is what I can remember off hand:

Last year, Matt Lane won the Clam Festival Classic in 23:48; nobody came even close this year. The times were not as top heavy for the fastest guys this year, and everyone came through much closer to one another than in the past few.

I chose a good race strategy for the Clam Festival this year. The last two years I came through in 29:19, and I wanted to cut at least a minute off of that time. I managed to run a 27:49 this year by actually going out easy and then running negative splits. My first two miles were around 5:35 pace, and my last two miles were about 5:25 pace. I took advantage of the downhills and didn’t waste everything on the uphills until the last mile.

It was a good day; I beat a lot of guys that normally are out of reach for me. They did not have particularly good races, but I will take what I can get. It is the first time that I beat Paul Johnson (who pulled a hamstring Tuesday evening) or Dan Dearing, and I have not beaten Marc Dugas since he started training at 100 miles per week.

I was pulling in Tom Ryan at the end of the race, but like my last two races I ran a little dry at the very end. Bill Mariski and his 6 inch longer legs managed to decimate me on the last downhill quarter mile and outsprint me to the end. Tom finished in 27:47, Bill in 27:48, and myself another second back. Scott Bennett came back to Maine and had a pretty good race, running right behind Matt Lane. I was not able to beat them, however.

I didn’t get punched by a gold medalist this year; in fact, I never saw Joannie during, before or after the race. I heard that she had some calf problems towards the end so I hope that she is all right. She managed to run her 6 minute miles and came through in 29:59, right behind Dave Howard.