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Reta Wins 10k Classic In First Appearance
Misganaw, Reta’s Running Partner, Takes Women’s Crown And Sets New 20-39 Record
By Chris Miracle
Staff Writer
SHELBURNE FALLS – With a mix of an international as well as the usual local running flavor, one challenge remained the same for runners in the 28th Bridge of Flowers Classic 10k Road Race: Crittendon Hill.
Running the event for the first time, eventual winner Alene Reta of Ethiopia, but residing in New York, NY, who won the race in 31:08, had grand visions of challenging the course record of 30:10 set by Daniel Kihara in 1997. That was before talking with former race director and current elite runner coordinator Mike McCusker about the hill.
“When I heard the previous record, I said it might be easy to break. Then Mike said, ‘Well, there is a hill.’ I said, ‘Oh, a hill?’ I was thinking about Mike telling me that during that part of the race,” Reta said.
Starting out on the first mile, Belchertown’s Erik Nedeau tried to set a fast pace as the first mile went by in 4:59 on this cool morning, where at the start of the race the temperature was just 59 degrees with almost no humidity. A story in itself since the past few years of the race, the humidity has been a main challenge in addition to the famous Crittenden Hill.
After the first mile, Reta took his lead, a lead he would not come close to losing the rest of the way. With Reta now setting the pace, the two-mile sprint was clocked at 9:55.
Experiencing Crittendon for the first time, it appeared at first that Reta’s challenger might stay close. But Reta adjusted his pace to handle his first ascension of the 10.5-percent grade climb as mile three passed with Reta still having a slim chance at the course record at 16:06. Those hopes would fade as mile five was completed at 25:22, and Reta seemed to acknowledge as he checked his watch twice quickly during the final stretch.
“The hill is really tough. I run last week in the Newburyport race and at New Hampshire. I came here and I was tired. I started at two miles and got to my pace and pushed my pace,” Reta said. “After I got my pace, I still don’t like the downhill. I like to get to the flat part of a course.”
Coming into the race this year a bit fatigued after racing in the Signa Health Care 5k in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he placed second to Reta by six seconds, former Shelburne Falls resident Mark Miller started out slow in the Bridge of Flowers Classic, a race he has run in since 1993. Miller finished for third in his best time ever of 32:02.
“I think the humidity was the main storyline the past few years, and it was awesome not to think about that this year,” said Miller, who now resides in Keene, NH. “I didn’t think any of us were really going to catch Reta. I closed the gap on Erik in the end, but looking back on the race, I wished I had made that move sooner and maybe I could have taken second.”
2005 champion Nate Jenkins tried to challenge Reta on mile two going up the hill, but could not maintain his attack as Reta maintain a respectable cushion after the hill. Jenkins finished second at 31:44, although bettering his winning time from last year of 32:47.
In the women’s competition, Reta’s training partner, Alemtsehay Misganaw, also from Ethiopia, won the women’s overall title in a time of 36:21, setting a new women’s 20-39 age group record in the process. Belchertown’s Seana Carmean held the previous mark at 36:45.
“It was very hard, especially the hill. At a mile and a half was the toughest point for me. This hill is good,” Misganaw said. “I raced Monday in Boston. It was too much racing, I think.”
“We train together. We have been training together for one year and go to the races together,” Reta said of Misganaw. “Everywhere we win together, so it is good to train together.”
Misgenaw, who finished 24th overall, beat out Heidi Westerling of Acworth, NH, who finished second in 36:55 among women. In third was Carmean, followed by Amy Nadeau, also of Belchertown, in 37:42.
“I was trying to catch up and made up some ground between miles four and five and a little more at five and six, but the race wasn’t long enough,” Westerling said.
Overall, 540 runners made up the 2006 field amid possibly the best running conditions ever seen at the race.
“All the conditions were there for the course record,” McCusker said. “It didn’t surprise me that Reta won. We know he can go about five flat for a 10-miler. I thought Miller and Blake would be more on Jenkins’ heels, but you never know what this hill is going to do to you. It treats everyone differently, and you need to know how it treats you.”
Behind Reta, Jenkins, and Miller, Eric Blake of New Britain, CT placed fourth overall in 32:25 while Nadeau was fifth with a time of 33:05. Fellow Belchertown resident Paul Low placed sixth in 33:30 with Matt Lacey of Amherst seventh in 33:36, MacKenzie Kilpatrick of Concord, NH eighth in 33:45, Josh Ferenc of South Acworth, NH ninth in 33:56, and Jordan Peeples of Brattleboro, VT completing the top 10 in tenth place with a time of 34:01.
Among the locals, Mark Burnham was the first across the finish line, the 19-year-old from Shelburne Falls placing 14th in 34:46. Right behind him was 19-year-old Ross Turner of Shelburne Falls, who was 15th in 34:48.
Only one record was set Saturday, that coming in the women’s 70-74 age division as 72-year-old Barbara Robinson of Franconia, NH finished in 55:29 to break Anne Stockman’s mark of 56:14 set in 2002.
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