Kenyans sweep Beach to Beacon Hemphill, Beck are top Mainers

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CAPE ELIZABETH – Mother Nature waved her magic wand just in time for the start of the seventh annual Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K Sunday.

After humid, muggy conditions throughout the weekend, the skies cooperated with the 5,000 runners wish for good conditions: cool, cloudy and drizzly.

The ones who were most satisfied were overall winners Gilbert Okari and Susan Chepkemei, and Maine winners Ethan Hemphill and Susannah Beck.

Kenya’s Okari, the defending champion and course record holder, pulled away from fellow countrymen Thomas Kiplitan and Robert Cheryiout in the final 200 meters to post a 27-minute, 35-second win on the 6.2-mile jaunt from Crescent Beach to Fort Williams State Park.

Kiplitan finished second in 27:38 and Cheryiout third in 27:47. Wilson Kiprotich’s fourth-place time of 27:53 meant four runners ran sub-28:00, another race first. Luke Kipkosgei finished fifth in 28:10.3. All top five finishers are from Kenya.

Okari, the race’s first repeat winner, and the lead pack took off at about a 4:30 pace through the first couple miles before clocking a 4:17 third mile to open it up slightly.

“We were all together from the first mile,” he said. “I like this course and I thought the weather was fine.”

Okari, who will celebrate his 26th birthday Monday, and Cheryiout remained the front runners for most of the race while Kiplitan also took a turn at the lead until Okari pulled away in the final 200 meters.

Kenya’s Chepkemei took over the lead in the second half of the women’s race and never looked back, winning by 15 seconds over Masako Chiba of Japan (31:35-31:50). Chepkemei missed setting the course record by one second. Course record holder and defending champ Catherine Ndereba finished fifth in 32:31.

Both Okari and the 29-year-old Chepkemei took home $10,000 in first-place prize money.

Freeport’s Hemphill pulled away from Evan Graves of Bar Harbor to capture the Maine men’s crown in 31:45. Graves finished in 31:48. Mike Payson of Falmouth was third (31:52), Andy Spaulding of Freeport fourth (32:04) and Judson Cake of Bar Harbor (32:13). Payson was the overall Masters champ (ages 40-up).

A fast start is an easy mistake to make on this course, as the first few miles are virtually all downhill before a couple of hills at mile five. Hemphill was careful to avoid any kind of mistake.

“It wasn’t a crazy start, we were just over five minutes,” he said. “The best thing to do at that point is to kind of stick with it [the pace].

“It’s definitely a good idea to go out conservatively [on this course] by virtue of the fact that the fifth mile is so difficult.”

At about 51/2 miles, Hemphill put the hammer down on Graves. He has raced against many of the runners in the top five over the years.

“I’ve raced against Evan [Graves] a lot,” he said.

Hemphill also enjoys the Maine awards.

“It’s definitely a unique award. This is the Maine 10K championships, so it’s a nice little prize,” he said.

On the Maine women’s side, Yarmouth’s Beck led from point to point, winning by more than a minute over Emily Levan of Wiscasset. Their times were 35:21 and 36:42, respectively.

Maggie Hanson of Bowdoinham, last year’s champ, finished third (36:51), Suzanne Hussey of Alfred was fourth (37:58) and Christine Snow-Reaser of Dayton rounded out the top five (38:30).

Beck had just returned to Maine last year shortly before the race. Since she wasn’t considered a Maine resident, she wasn’t eligible for the award, but left no doubt this year. She too played it conservative on the downhill start.

“I’ve run this course three times, and having a marathon background helps,” she said. “If I use the downhills, I can let the course help me.

“We [the Maine women] went out pretty intelligently, at about 5:30 pace,” she said. “I’d hoped to run closer to six minutes, because my training has been just almost zero speedwork for the last month.”

Beck had been racing every weekend through the Fourth of July, but has been nursing a foot injury. This was her first race since then.

Other division winners included: masters women, Valentina Yegorova of Russia (34:36); wheelchair men, Tony Nogueira of Glen Ridge, N.J. (25:11); and wheelchair women, Laurie Stephens of Wenham, Mass. (33:32). It was the fifth victory for both Nogueira and Stephens.

Thirty-eight states and 10 different countries were represented in the race while a record 4,354 finished the event with approximately 10,000 fans lining the course.

“This was another amazing day, an amazing race,” said race founder Joan Benoit Samuleson, the first women’s Olympic marathon winner.

“These tremendous athletes, along with the contributions of all the volunteers, the town of Cape Elizabeth and the lead sponsor, Peoples Heritage Bank, makes this an inspirational event year in and year out.”

The field included Gov. John Baldacci (59:21), who also finished the race last year.

Several local runners turned in strong races: Phil LeBreton of Bangor (33:59.9), Newell Lewey of Bradley (35:53.9), former John Bapst runner Sean Lena (37:03.3), Judson Esty-Kendall of Glenburn (38:34.8), father and daughter Dick (38:59.6) and Molly (42:50.2) Balentine of Hampden, Hampden superintendent of schools Rick Lyons (40:44.1), and Dan Milan of Brewer (42:25.1).

Riding To the Top was this year’s race beneficiary. RTT provides therapeutic horseback riding services to children with physical, emotional and/or learning disabilities.