Casey Moulton and Cathi Campbell win at the Old Fashioned 10 Miler
Greater Lowell triumphant in the men's title, but B.A.A sweeps the women's title.
By Rob Rose
Posted Monday, 23 February, 2004
An hour before the start of yesterday's Old Fashioned 10 Mile, a prediction was made about the outcome of the impending men's race. Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) coach Mike Pieroni brought more than 50 runners to Foxboro to compete at a race where the club has enjoyed unparalleled success over the years, including last year when the B.A.A. took the men's and women's titles. On this day, Pieroni knew in advance that the blue clad B.A.A. singlets would not sustain the reign. When asked which B.A.A. runners would be in contention for the men's title, Pieroni nodded his head toward a thin, asthenic runner wearing a Greater Lowell Road Runner shirt sitting in a chair to his right. He conceded that the seated individual, Casey Moulton, would finish on top that day.
Pieroni proved to be prescient as the Pelham, N.H resident pulverized the field of 372 runners, easily winning in 51:12. Olympic aspirant Cathi Campbell won the women's race in 60:44.
Moulton exerted his control early, launching into the lead in the first moments of the race with Warwick RI's Matt Pelletier and Providence's Dan Johnson in arrears Attired in a dark, baggy singlet, Moulton put the hammer down two minutes into the race and essentially ended the competition right there. Three minutes in, he had opened a 70 yard gap. When he hit the first mile (4:52), which was three seconds faster than Mark Coogan's record pace in 2002, there was no one in view. It was, however, a pace he could not sustain. "I went out at a 4:45; I have trouble with that," he said. "When you go out hard in races, you don't feel it in the first two miles."
Although Moulton's initial rush put him out of sight, Pelletier and Johnson were still hopeful that it had not put them out of contention. "Dan and I were in it as a workout," said Pelletier, who runs for the Warwick based Tuesday Nite Turtles. "We didn't know who he (Moulton) was. Two minutes in he had a thirty second lead. I thought he would come back to us. I turned to Dan at three (miles) and said, 'He's not coming back to us.'"
After a 4:54 second mile, Moulton's frenetic pace cooled as he began to encounter the undulating hills that mark the midsection of the 10 mile course. "The wind and the hills got to me." he said. "I hit five (miles) in 25:08 which I was happy with. I knew I was going to win. I said before the race that I wanted to do a 5:07 pace."
In retrospect, Moulton felt that he could have improved his performance by modulating his early pace to save energy. "I'm still inconsistent," he said. "This is my longest race in a long time. Anything over 10K is long. If I had more competition I would have run a better time."
| | I'm happy I beat the B.A.A. guys. |
After the race, sitting in a chair before the awards ceremony commenced, Moulton expressed satisfaction with his showing against the big blue juggernaut. "I'm the only guy with a Greater Lowell shirt," he beamed. "I'm happy I beat the B.A.A. guys."
Although the B.A.A. was unable to defend their Old Fashioned 10 Mile men's title, the club continued to maintain their stranglehold on the women's race. For the second consecutive year, the B.A.A. women swept the top four places. Following Campbell through the finishers chute were teammates Janelle Kraus (61:17) and Francine Darroch (62:29) of Providence and Somerville's Suzy Walsh (63:02).
"I was going for time; I'm getting ready," said Campbell, who will be running the women's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on April 4 in St. Louis. "I wanted to run six flat (per mile) but I ended up at a 6:03/6:04 pace. A little off but with the wind I'll call it a draw." The Allston resident, who qualified for
the Trials by running a 2:46 at the 2002 Boston Marathon, may have compromised some of her speed due to her extensive training. "My mileage is up," she said. "Last week I ran 110 miles. It's tough running with all that mileage."
As in the men's race, Campbell was never challenged in her romp to the finish. "I never saw her," said her nearest rival Kraus. "I was looking to start out comfortable; didn't want to go into major oxygen debt. I got to the point at five miles where I could see Cathi but I couldn't close the gap."
Without female competition, Campbell had to take up with some of her B.A.A. male teammates to achieve her goal pace. "I didn't have any woman with me the whole race," Campbell said. "There wasn't a lot of movement. It was a little nice having company."
The 5K attracted a field of 107 runners and was won by Timothy Rider of Eliot, Me in 14:44. Mim Siegal of South Easton was the women's winner in 19:01.
