Rob Rose Running Column 3/25/07
"It
was over before it started," was the way Attleboro's Chris
Elgar
aptly described the course of events at Saturday's Run For
Humanity
5K in Attleboro. The low key race, held at the
LaSallette
Shrine, has over the years had a tendency to draw
stellar
runners from outside the region, who use the 5K as a
spring
opener to flex their aerobic abilities. Elgar and the
other
141 participants quickly felt the brunt of that trait.
Whitinsville's
Paul Reilly left the pack in his contrails,
breezing
to an easy 16:04 win. U.S. Olympic Marathon qualifier
Heidi
Westerling of Narrangsett overwhelmed the women's field
with a
17:20, finishing third overall.
Reilly,
a native of Ireland, had the lead so quickly, it
appeared
as if he had false started. Fifteen yard lead within
thirty
seconds; fifty within a minute and a half. Daniel
Stiegler
of Portsmouth, N.H was trying to make the day
competitive
from second place. "I'm usually a slow starter but I
was
trying to start fast and I knew that he was a fast runner,"
he said.
"I was trying to stay close to him but he's amazing. I
just
wanted him to stay in my sights but I started out way too
fast. I
died."
As a
seasoned competitor, Reilly was probing the field for a
reaction.
"At these races, you never know who is here," he said.
"You
can't tell so I wanted to get an idea who was here and
usually
a 4:40 first mile will tell you who can run." At the
first
mile check (4:42), the answer to that question was, 'No
one'.
His expanding lead grew to over a hundred yards but it
didn't
preclude a glance back before the second mile. "I was
trying
to get some idea where the second guy was just so I could
just
relax and set my own pace," he said. "Not have to worry
about
winning the race, just keep it steady. I just took it easy
the last
two miles."
A 13:56
runner on the track for 5K, Reilly is trying to return
to that
form. "I ran last week in two races, one in Holyoke on
Saturday
and one in Boston on Sunday, so I wanted to test my
legs
again. Had a couple years of low key, so I'm trying to get
back in
reasonable shape. I've run decent road races in 14:20,
14:30.
I'm not in that shape yet, I'm probably at 15:10 / 15:20.
I plan
on racing tomorrow so today's is kind of an easy tempo
run."
Fourth
place finisher Elgar was able to offer an insider's
viewpoint
on the latest Run for Humanity experience. "There was
nothing
anybody was going to do to go anywhere near him," he
said of
Reilly. "It looked like it was an easy workout for him.
You
look at this race and there are always a couple of people
every
year that are highly competitive and my assumption is that
they're
looking at this as a nice easy early season tester and
people
like me are left way behind, wondering, 'I thought this
would
an easy local race!' The guy that won it, if he had to,
could
have run infinitely quicker. I think it's neat for a local
race to
attract some random studs. I'd love to be able to make
them
sweat a little bit but that's not happening."
Reilly's
masterful performance somewhat obscured Westerling's
sterling
effort in which she almost claimed second place
overall.
Stiegler just nudged out Westerling for the runner-up
position
after getting a tip from a local. "A guy yelled at me
in his
car, 'There's a girl coming up on you, you better hold
her
off.'" said Stiegler. "I didn't hear her but once he told me
I knew
someone was on my tail."
Like
Reilly, Westerling came to Attleboro to "get a workout
in,"
she said. "I got a lot to do this afternoon, so it was,
'Get it
in! Get it done, get going!'" The B.A.A. member
qualified
for the women's Olympic Marathon trials last May by
clocking
a 2:44 at Vermont City. Although Westerling was
reticent
about her accomplishments, second place finisher Trish
Hillery
(18:18) extolled them. "She's selling herself short,"
she
said. "She's already qualified for the Olympic trials. This
girl is
phenomenal. She should be running with Team Hanson. I
don't
know what she's doing around here. She's brilliant!"
Hillery,
who won the overall race in 2005 and has claimed the
RFH
women's title on other occasions was gracious and reflective
in
moving into the women's runner up role. "Just trying to get
out
there and run a good race," she said. "First race as a
master's.
Turned forty last week, nicest way to begin. It's one
of
those sports, you're always one injury away from being a
jogger
so anything I can do out there that's anywhere under 20
minutes
or 19 minutes I'm very pleased. I could get something
catastrophic
that I'd be happy just to be able to jog as opposed
to
hear, 'You'll never run again.'"
15th Annual 5k Run for Humanity 1-
Paul
Reilly, Whitinsville, 16:04; 2- Daniel Stiegler,
Portsmouth,
NH, 17:18; 3 -Heidi Westerling, Narragansett, RI,
17:20;
4- Zac Laidley, East Walpole, 17:43; 5- Chris Elgar,
Attleboro,
18:12; 6- David Haffner, 18:14; 7- Trish Hillery,
Greenville,
RI, 18:18; 8- David Phipps, 18:42; 9- Don Palladini,
Franklin,
18:43; 10- Larry O'Toole, Attleboro, 18:48; 11- Bill
Wardyga,
Pawtucket, 18:56; 12- John DiTomasso, 19:05; 13-
Stephen
Warren, Sharon, 19:07; 14- Joe Cole, 19:47; 15- Carlos
Montano,
19:49; 16- Matt Jordan, 19:55; 17- Sam Mosabini, 20:03;
18- Joe
McLouglin, 20:11; 19- Clif Ennis, South Attleboro,
20:22;
20- Lucky Beauchemin, Seekonk, 20:24; 21- Megan Gaudet,
20:34;
22- Gordon Friedrich, 20:49; 23- Michael Reddy, 20:56;
24-
Ryan Morin, 21:03; 25- Norman Stiegler, Portsmouth NH,
21:18;
26- Robert Raulson, 21:22; 27- Randy Cordeiro, 21:26; 28-
Judith
Thompson, Rumsford, 21:43; 29- Doug Dyer, 21:54; 30-
Linda
Sutherland, 21:58; 31- Dave Dumouchel, 21:59; 32- Brian
Desmond,
22:00; 33- Stacey Allen, 22:24; 34- Gina Hines, 22:35;
35-
Jared Palanzi, 22:39; 36- Carl Palanzi, 22:45; 37- Eric
Benevides,
22:47; 38 -Cindy Rice, Attleboro, 22:50; 39- Mark
Young,
North Attleboro, 22:53; 40- Kurtis Biggs, 23:05; 41-
Woody
Wilson, 23:08; 42- Jeanne Willis, North Attleboro, 23:21;
43- Hal
Shurtleff, 23:24; 44- Jen Withers, Attleboro 23:30; 45-
Brien
Lang, 23:47; 46 -Bob Adams, 23:53; 47- Jim Whelan,
Attleboro,
23:54; 48- David Gates, 23:56; 49- Matt Taylor,
24:06;
50- Jamie Morrill, 24:09; 51- Tom White, 24:18; 52-
Alison
Guzman, 24:19; 53- Tom Nealon, 24:22; 54- Kate Mcnally,
North
Attleboro, 24:25; 55- Victor Furtado, 24:26; 56 -Bob
Withers,
Attleboro, 24:27; 57- Christopher O'Sullivan, 24:28;
58-
Sarah Regan, 24:30; 59- Phil Gaudet, 24:55; 60- Jack
Ferrara,
25:00; 61- Tom MacKenzie, North Attleboro, 25:05; 62-
Steve
Rhines, Plainville, 25:12; 63- Dean Pendleton, 25:20; 64-
Michael
Krushinsky, 25:21; 65- Samone John, 25:26; 66- Sarah
Heverly,
25:35; 67- Debbie Rhines, Plainville, 25:38; 68- Gail
Strong,
Attleboro, 25:59; 69- Tasna Vincent, 26:13; 70-
Elisabeth
Smith, 26:14; 71- Mark Zullo, 26:14; 72- Patricia
Allen
Sousa, Seekonk, 26:16; 73- Katherine Cortinovis, 26:41;
74-
Elisa Hayes, 26:47; 75- Tracy Araujo, 26:49; 76- Steve
Squadrilli,
Plainville, 26:52; 77- Paul Pare, 27:12; 78- Richard
Carnes,
Norton, 27:24; 79- Ed Surpreant Jr, 27:30; 80- Brett
Tremmel,
27:33; 81- Robert Warhurst , 27:43; 82- David Waters,
27:44;
83 -Cindy Azulay, 27:45; 84- Nick Sousa, 27:47; 85-
Russell
Bogdan, 27:54; 86- Julia Burns, 27:56; 87- Jim Burns,
27:57;
88- Bozena Chmielewski, 28:07; 89- Shalymar Whitehurst,
28:15;
90- Susan Travers, 28:19; 91- Elizabeth Dubay, 28:40; 92-
Colleen
Heverly, 28:41; 93- Elizabeth Lindsay,
28:54; 94-
Nancy
Hertzberg, Attleboro, 29:01; 95- Kim Forget, Attleboro,
29:02;
96- Kelly Pigott, 29:03; 97- Carla Smargon, 29:08; 98-
Diane
Cordeiro, 29:23; 99- Katherine Grives, 29:31; 100- Michele
Grieves,
29:32; 101- Mark Adams, 29:36; 102- Nicholas Shurtleff,
29:38;
103- Daniela Catanese, 29:45; 104- Stan Kurzynski, 29:51;
105-
Tarah Sheridan, 30:15; 106- Anthony Ngawor, 30:28; 107-
Mary
Ellen Shea, 30:33; 108- Larry Kessler, North Attleboro,
31:27;
109- Marilena Arqueta, 31:49; 110- Monica Kellard, 31:56;
111-
Kathie Norcott, 33:09; 112 -Stephanie Viens, 33:21; 113-
Laura
Viens, 33:22; 114- Suzanne Araujo, 33:25; 115- Kristen
Keith,
33:36; 116- Jake Fitzgerald, 33:39; 117- Patty Fitgerald,
33:50;
118- Male Fitgerald, 33:51; 119- Maureen Shurtleff,
34:42;
120- Ellen Clifford, 35:14; 121- Suzanne Priest, 35:16;
122-
Andrea Palmatier, 35:17; 123- Ellen Sullivan, 35:25; 124-
Christina
D'Agostin, 35:26; 125- Suzanne Andrew, 35:34; 126-
Courtney
Doyle, 35:37; 127- Christine Alvarez, 35:43; 128- Amy
Moser,
35:44; 129- Elisabeth Kemmerer, 35:53; 130- Madeline
Fitzgerald,
36:12; 131- Mary Beth McGrah, 36:14; 132- Shannon
Kerr,
36:15; 133- Heather Prosky, 36:16; 134- David Mayall,
36:18;
135- Patricia Chastenay, 37:20; 136- Marcia Petrsa,
38:33;
137- Sarah Musk, 38:36; 138- Nancy Watters, 38:59; 139-
Emily
Denneno, 40:04; 140- Rhin Ayers, 40:04; 141- Donna Ayers,
40:19;
142- Barbara Lloyd, 40:31; 143- Threresa Birmingham,
42:12;
144- Carlton Smith, 42:26
$