Out of Fog, Molly Huddle and Ben Bruce Win Inaugural Bay Area Cross Challenge

By Sam Grotewold, NYRR
January 16, 2011
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly

SAN FRANCISCO (16-Jan) -- Under a blanket of typical San Francisco fog that faded throughout the morning but never completely went away, American 5000-meter record-holder Molly Huddle and Ben Bruce of the Oregon Track Club won the women's and men's races, respectively, at the Bay Area Cross Challenge, a new event organized by the Bay Area Track Club and sponsored by New York Road Runners.  The event gave athletes a tune-up opportunity before the USA Cross Country Championships on February 5 in San Diego.

Huddle, who has been training in the warmth of Arizona since the beginning of 2011, seized the lead in the opening strides and ran alone on her three circuits of the 2 km loop around Golden Gate Park's Polo Fields, winning the 6-K race in 19:19.  For Huddle, whose 19th place finish helped Team USA to the bronze medal at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the meet was a perfect opportunity to test her fitness before the USA Championships in three weeks' time.

"I wanted to get a race in around now, and this was an easy trip from where I'm training [in Tucson]," said Huddle who lives in Providence, R.I.  "I think the USA Championships will be a little faster, so I still have some sharpening to do.

Following Huddle were reigning USA indoor 3000-meter champion Renee Baillie (19:31) and 2008 Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet (19:32).  Lewy Boulet, who lives in nearby Oakland, is a member of the Bay Area Track Club was also part of the meet organizing committee.

In contrast to Huddle's relatively easy victory, the men's 8 km race was only decided in the final centimeters.  Steeplechaser Jon Pierce, who attended college at nearby Stanford University and now trains with the Mammoth Track Club under coach Terrence Mahon, led the race through halfway before beginning to fade.  The lead was quickly assumed by three-time World Cross Country team member Max King, with Bruce and his Oregon Track Club teammate Kevin Chelimo.  Although Bruce had a one-step lead when the group disappeared from view on the ultimate lap, the trio turned onto the 300 meter finish straight side-by-side, with no indication of who might win.  Sprinting at top speed through a particularly muddy patch 200 meters from the finish, Chelimo inched ahead of his rivals, but King and Bruce quickly pulled even.  It was not until the final three meters that Bruce edged ahead just enough to be given the win after a lengthy review of the finish line photo.  All three athletes were given the same finishing time of 23:12, and Bruce's margin of victory over runner-up Chelimo was .07 seconds.  Like Huddle, he picked up $2,000 for winning the race, part of a $9,000 total prize money purse.

Bruce, who didn't know he had won until well after he had crossed the finish line, was motivated by a similar experience that didn't go his way a few months ago.  "I thought I had it won at the USA 5-K Championships last fall, and [Robert Cheseret] got by me in the last 10 meters, so I just wanted to keep driving and not celebrate until I hit the tape," the steeplechaser said.  A San Diego native, Bruce will look to qualify for his second consecutive World Cross Country Championships team in his hometown next month.

Nobody was more satisfied after the meet than 2009 World Championships 1500-meter bronze medallist Shannon Rowbury, who along with three-time USA Champion David Torrence and 2000 Olympian Bolota Asmerom led the organization of the event.

"We knew it was going to be a lot of work going into organizing this meet, but I've been really amazed by the energy, talent and work ethic of my teammates at the Bay Area Track Club in putting this meet on," she said.  Rowbury, who ran many cross country races on this same Golden Gate Park circuit during her high school career, is still in early training mode for her 2011 track season and did not compete.

The meet recorded 109 total finishers in the junior, women's and men's races.

Note: Sam Grotewold, is the Elite Athlete Coordinator for the NYRR

*Full Results here

Men's Top Results

	1	411 BEN BRUCE		M8k M NIKE OREGON TRA	23:12	4:40
	2	413 KEVIN CHELIMO		M8k M NIKE OREGON TRA	23:12	4:40
	3	417 MAX KING		M8k M	23:12	4:40
	4	420 JON PIERCE	27	M8k M ASICS	23:49	4:48
	5	421 PHILLIP REID		M8k M ASICS AGGIES RU	23:55	4:49
	6	422 JACQUES SALLBERG		M8k	23:57	4:50
	7	423 STEPHAN SHAY		M8k M SAUCONY	24:08	4:52
	8	425 DAVID TORRENCE	25	M8k M NIKE	24:12	4:52
	9	405 COLE ATKINS	24	M8k M ZAP FITNESS/REE	24:14	4:53
	10	415 JOE DRISCOLL	31	M8k M ZAP FITNESS	24:19	4:54
	11	412 BOAZ CHEBOIYWO	32	M8k M NIKE	24:22	4:54
	12	404 BOLOTA ASMEROM	32	M8k M SAUCONY/ BATC	24:30	4:56
	13	402 MARCO ANZURES	22	M8k M MCMILLAN ELITE	24:35	4:57
	14	424 DANIEL TAPIA		M8k M ADIDAS TRANSPOR	24:54	5:01
	15	105 GILIAT GHEBRAY		M8k M TEAM PENSKE	24:57	5:02

Women's Top Results

	1	416 MOLLY HUDDLE		W6k F SAUCONY	19:19	5:11
	2	406 RENEE BAILLIE	29	W6k F NIKE	19:31	5:14
	3	410 MAGDALENA BOULET		W6k F SAUCONY	19:32	5:15
	4	418 ALISSA MCKAIG	24	W6k F ZAP FITNESS/REE	19:33	5:15
	5	428 REILLY KIERNAN		w6k F NYAC	19:49	5:19
	6	409 NICOLE BLOOD		W6k F NIKE OREGON TRA	20:11	5:25
	7	403 MEGHAN ARMSTRONG		W6k F TEAM USA MINNES	20:26	5:29
	8	427 TANYA ZEFERJAHN		W6k F BOWERMAN ATHLET	20:36	5:32
	9	150 KATE NIEHAUS	22	W6k F	20:44	5:34
	10	131 ALEXA GLENCER	22	W6k F IMPALA	20:49	5:35
	11	173 KAITLIN GREGG	23	W6k F NEW BALANCE SIL	20:54	5:37
	12	113 TERESA MCWALTERS	26	W6k F IMPALA RACING T	20:55	5:37
	13	123 STEFANIE SLEKIS	22	W6k F SUN ELITE	20:59	5:38
	14	179 LINDSEY SCHERF		W6k F	21:02	5:39
	15	419 STEPHANIE PANCOAST		W6k F NEW BALANCE SIL	21:05	5:40

 

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