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30th Bridge of Flowers Classic: ‘the closest ever’
Road race ends in a photo finish
By Nate Rosenthal
Sports Correspondent
SHELBURNE FALLS – The sun shone brightly over the village both literally and figuratively, as 1,200 runners gathered for the 30th Bridge of Flowers Classic Road Race Saturday, Aug. 9.
Because the race was part of the USA Track & Field New England Grand Prix series this year, the number of runners swelled from the usual 800.
And, according to race founder Mike McCusker, this year was “the closest I have seen in the 30 years.”
Those in attendance were certainly treated to something special.
The gun sounded at 9:09 a.m. and the runners were off. Genn Tufa and Deniboba Derese were first off the line, with Nate Jenkins right behind.
As the runners left the downtown area there was a pack right behind Tufa, Derese and Jenkins with Shadrack Kiyai, Casey Moulton, Justin Freeman, Ben Ndaya and William Christian in close pursuit.
The two groups moved along steadily and as everyone went into the first turn and down Warren Street, Tufa briefly separated himself.
As they moved along to the first hill before heading down Church Street, Derese had caught up with Tufa and Shadrack was two steps behind.
Freeman moved back into the picture on the downside of the hill and then moved past the leaders as they got to Water Street.
At the two mile mark, just after the race had come back through the downtown area, Freeman was still in front.
But that wouldn’t last.
It would change right after they crossed the Iron Bridge, with Tufa and Derese regaining the top spots and Kiyai moving into third.
The runners approached Crittenden Hill in that order and things would change dramatically moments later. As they ascended the hill, Tufa and Derese separated themselves slightly from Kiyai and opened about a 30 yard lead over that second pack.
By the time they reached the crest, the leaders had taken control of the race by 22 seconds.
At this point, about three miles in, it was basically a two man race and by the time they were finished with Crittenden Hill, Tufa had taken a six second lead over Derese.
They would get back together after the turn onto Hatfield Road, with Kiyai comfortably in third.
Meanwhile, the women’s race was beginning to take shape some four minutes behind on Rand Road.
Buzhnesh Tarekgn had separated herself from the rest of the women, while Amy Nadeau, Heidi Westerling and Stephanie Reilly remained within striking distance.
On the men’s side, the lead of Tufa and Derese grew to 20 and then 30 seconds as the race returned to the downtown area and into the final stretch.
Off the Iron Bridge they came with Tufa holding an ever so slight lead over Derese. He was seemingly imploring his running partner to catch up, so they could cross the finish line together.
And that is exactly what happened, as the two Ethiopians by way of the Bronx finished in what appeared to be a dead heat.
In the end, Tufa would awarded first place with a time of 31:05, while Derese was second, coming in just a half second behind.
Kiyai maintained his third place status with a time of 31:43 followed closely by Christian and Freeman, at 32:00 and 32:06, respectively.
Rounding out the top ten were: Casey Moulton (32:17), Eric Blake (32:23), Jenkins (32:28), Wilson Perez (32:48) and Mike Fisher (32:52), all of whom received cash prizes.
For the women, Tarekgn led the way with a winning time of 35:59, a time that was 57th overall.
Second, third and fourth went to Reilly (36:32), Westerling (36:51) and Nadeau (37:00).
A minute after that, the remaining women in the top ten started to come in: Lara Johnson (38:08), Kim Duclos (38:20), Caitlyn Clark (38:56), Allison McCabe (39:13), Christine Anderson (39:17), Carly Graytock (39:23). They too received cash prizes.
“I can’t believe how close race this was,” McCusker said. “This was a great field, as strong as we have had in some time with world class runners beginning to discover our race.
“Ross Turner, for example, was top fifteen in 2007 and though he had a better time this year, barely made the top 30.”
Tufa and Derese spoke of their experience with the course.
Tufa said, “We were running together, trying to draft for one another. That helped a lot when we got to the hill. We were able to maintain our pace as we went up the slope.”
Derese added, “This was a great course especially with the hill making it a difficult course. I have been in some close races, but not this close.”
It took the judges nearly an hour to sort out first and second as they looked at numerous pictures of the finish.
“This will only help us to gain even more recognition,” McCusker also pointed out.
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