Super Run Breaks Snowstorm Classic Record
Heather Gardiner Just Misses Another Win
After tying the 5K record last week with her unprecedented 1st place overall,
Heather Gardiner gave the 10K course a try. The result: a new course record for women
and nearly another first place finish.
This time the Hartford Track Club speedster had additional obstacles to overcome.
Weather conditions were more seasonal and less then ideal, ie., windy and cold with a few
patches of icy roadway on the Forest Park course. And not only were Steve Byrne and Steve
O'Neil, the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from last week, looking for revenge, but two UMass
Students had joined the fray, North Medford Club's Jamie Jee and the Harriers' Jason
Reed, a previous Snowstorm Classic winner. The stage was thus set.
Jamie Jee opened a quick early lead at the starting gun as the 22 year old UMass senior
by way of Gardner, Mass, bolted up the early hill. But Gardiner gave chase, and by the top of
the hill had strung out the rest of the field, with Steve Bryne, Steve O'Neil and Jason Reed
next in line. That's how they stayed, with the two leaders slowly pulling away from the
others. By the 5K mark Jee held a fifteen second margin over Gardiner, and everyone else was racing for 3rd.
The margins remained the same over the next few miles and it appeared that Jee was
headed for a comfortable win. But with a mile to go Gardiner put on a ferocious charge,
steadily closing the gap all the way to the finish with Jee just hanging on for a four second
victory in 36:28. Gardiner's late surge however had it's rewards, a 36:32 new course record
for women, breaking by one second the record which had stood for over twenty years, the
36:33 standard held by the Harriers' Carol O'Connor. In addition, Gardiner smashed the
40:41 record for 23 year old women held since 1989 by the Harriers' Diane
Tedford.
Heather is pointing towards this year's Boston Marathon and based upon her Snowstorm
Classic efforts could be headed towards a big pr.
Steve Byrne held on to 3rd in 37:25 while Jason Reed (37:44) edged past Steve O'Neil (37:57) who again won both master and senior honors. Finian O'Shea (40:24) was the first junior. Dawn Roberts (43:43) held off Ludmila Cosio (44:01) for 2nd and 3rd respectively among the women. Ellie Lowell (50:10) of the Silk City Striders was first master and senior for the women.
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