Cake cruises to 2nd Sugarloaf victory Ganz captures women’s race

KINGFIELD ? As the crow flies, the Sugarloaf Marathon is a 26.2-mile endurance test of body, mind and spirit nestled in the western Maine mountains.

As the Crows ran, however, no one was faster.

Judson Cake of Bar Harbor and Christine Ganz of Mount Desert, two members of the Mount Desert Island-based Crow Athletics running club, swept to victory Sunday amid cool, rainy conditions that were a spectator’s nemesis but not bad for the 483 distance runners who completed this race or the accompanying Sugarloaf 15K.

Cake, 27, won the marathon title for the second straight year. He was timed in 2 hours, 32 minutes, 22.4 seconds, besting second-place David Herr of Canaan, Vt., (2:34:52.8) by more than two minutes.

Cake shook off the flu and respiratory tract woes that slowed him during the week to pull away from Herr midway along the route down Route 27 past Flagstaff Lake in Eustis and then along the Carrabassett River to the finish line in Kingfield.

“It’s pretty quick,” said Cake, just four weeks removed from being Maine’s top male finisher in the Boston Marathon, “but Boston is kind of the perfect training run for this because it makes you so strong and this course is so much easier.”

Cake was one of four Crow Athletics runners to finish among the top nine overall, joined by fourth-place Matt Frongillo of Bar Harbor (2:46:44.6), sixth-place Matt Woida of Bar Harbor (2:47:53.4) and ninth-place Gary Allen of Cranberry Isles (2:54:23.8).

“We started the club about three years ago,” said Cake. “We’ve got Sunday runs when we all meet, and Wednesday track workouts, and usually a couple of other nights a week we put some runs together.

“We have a lot of guys in the club from the island who are just as fast as I am or faster, all the way down to 15-minute milers, so everyone benefits from having each other around. The whole group is awesome.”

Other top finishers in the men’s field were David Principe of Cranston, R.I. (third in 2:45:12.5), masters’ champion Greg Hale of Waterville (fifth in 2:47:32.9).

Ganz also was coming off an appearance in the Boston Marathon, but bounced back well enough to beat her previous personal marathon best by 12 minutes to win the Sugarloaf women’s division in 3:05:58.

“I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do because I ran Boston four weeks ago and I knew this was a comparatively fast course, but I decided I was going to come here and see how it went,” Ganz said. “I felt pretty good, and the conditions were great. It was 75 degrees at Boston.”

Ganz, 44, is one of about 75 Crow Athletics members, a group that isn’t limited to the long-distance demands of marathoning.

“Crow Athletics is the best running club in the world,” she said. “It’s a local club, and it’s such a great support team. They’ve really, really helped my running tremendously.

“It’s all paces, all ages, all distances, all customers. We support each other for whatever it is you want to do. Several of us are distance runners, and some of us just come out for fun, and it’s just a great group.”

Ganz placed 14th overall, while Brigid Franey of Saco was the second-fastest woman, topping her personal best by a half-hour to place 16th overall in 3:07:54.2. Emma Barclay of Portland (23rd in a PR of 3:13:01.9), Jennifer Wilcox of Worcester, Mass. (39th in 3:19:59.5) and masters’ division winner Marsha Logan of Burlington, Mass. (40th in 3:20:35.1) completed the women’s top five.

Ethan Hemphill, 32, of Freeport held off a late charge by 33-year-old Mark Mayall of Mansfield, Mass., to win the Sugarloaf 15K for the second straight year and third time in four years.

Hemphill pulled away from Mayall midway through the race, only to have Mayall mount a second-wind challenge. Hemphill finished in 48:36.1, less than five seconds ahead of Mayall (48:41.7).

“[Mayall] ran a smart, strong race.” said Hemphill. “I pulled away in the middle miles, and then got maybe a little complacent toward the end. He caught up with me with about a mile and a half to go, and we ran together from there. He was tough.”

Bryne Decker of Yarmouth (49:49.5) was third, followed by Tim Wakeland of Dedham (53:44.8), Rick Chalmers of New York City (54:30.5) and sixth-place Jim Newett of Ellsworth (54:44.5).

Ellie Tucker, 50, of North Yarmouth won the women’s 15K crown, placing 20th overall in 59:40.9. Kathleen Bell of Orono (26th overall in 1:01:21.5) edged Kelly Cullenberg of Chesterville (29th in 1:01:43.7) for second place.

“It wasn’t quite as fast as last year, but the weather was actually pretty good for running,” said Tucker. “I ran as hard as I could.”