Judson Cake has torn up the Maine road racing scene over the past few years.

This spring, the 28-year-old Bar Harbor resident headed to Bowling Rock, N.C., to train with a group known as ZAP Fitness, consisting of five men, including Cake, and two women.

Cake has run in various road racing events, including the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in Washington, D.C., where he was joined by fellow Mainer Cassie Hintz of Stillwater.

Cake admitted he isn’t a “big fish in a little pond” in North Carolina, but the training and coaching is paying dividends.

“Oh it definitely helps out a lot,” he said of the training. “Instead of being a big fish in a little pond I’m a small fish in a big pond. It’s a very structured environment, and you meet with the coaches on a daily basis.”

Cake was 19th overall and 18th in the men’s field in the Cherry Blossom race, finishing in 52 minutes, 23 seconds. Hintz was 14th in the women’s field of that race in 57:55.

Cake isn’t the only Mainer training with ZAP. Brendan O’Keefe from Sumner High School in East Sullivan and Brown University also trains with the group, and is Cake’s roommate.

“Brendan’s awesome,” Cake said. “I don’t know if you knew this, but [Southern Maine standout] Mike Bunker came down a couple weeks ago [to visit].”

Cake said he is training more consistently, running roughly 100 to 110 miles per week and gearing up for a fall marathon.

“It’s up in the air between two or three different [marathons],” he said. “All the training is geared toward that.”

He added the more consistent training regimen would pay off down the road.

“Instead of going to the track one day and running [speedwork] at 400 to 800 pace and doing a tempo run the next day, it’s more relevant to 10K and marathon-type training,” he said. “My body is holding up real well, I’m probably in the best shape I’ve ever been in, and once I can adapt to [the training] I’ll see some huge jumps.”

He said he does miss his hometown, however.

“Not a day goes by that I miss the people I train and live with, my family and friends,” Cake said. “MDI is a great place to train, [however] instead of thinking about winning the local 5K I’m thinking about how I’m an gonna chase down the Americans and Kenyans.”

Cake said he “definitely plans on running the Beach to Beacon” and hopes to run in the Sugarloaf 15K next month.

Mainers fare well in Boston

Maine had a strong showing at Monday’s Boston Marathon, as 137 athletes from the Pine Tree State finished the race.

The top Maine finish came from Emily LeVan of Wiscasset. The 33-year-old LeVan finished 13th in the women’s field with a time of 2 hours, 37 minutes, 1 second, which qualifies her for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. She was the first American finisher.

LeVan’s splits were fairly even, as she went through the half-marathon mark in 1:18.25, a 2:36.50 pace. She ran at approximately a 6-minute per mile pace throughout the race.

Christine Ganz of Mount Desert was the next Maine female finisher in 3:07.44. Evan Graves, a Bar Harbor native who now lives in Presque Isle and teaches in Easton, was the top male finisher in 2:30:15, placing 48th overall.