Manchester, NH - Killian Lonergan unleashed an all-out kick in the final 200 yards to overhaul Chris Georgules enroute to winning the 15th annual running of the CHIPs Challenge and, in the process, captured the men's 1998 USATF-NE 5K Championship. Georgules had pulled away from a pack of approximately eight runners just after the two-mile mark and kept a ten to twenty yard lead until Lonergan, an Irish citizen currently living in Somerville, Massachusetts, made his late charge.
"The course, especially the first mile, was somewhat more difficult than I had expected," said Lonergan. What he and a majority of the 806 finishers did not realize was that the previously used relatively flat CHIPs course had been replaced by a new, positive elevation course which featured a tough half-mile climb in the first mile. With a "start low, finish high" configuration, there was no corresponding downhill near the finish. Consequently, there were very few PR's.
In the women's competition, Terrianne McGettrick, a long-time USATF-NE Grand Prix competitor, finished a comfortable 75 yards ahead of her nearest pursuer, Kelly Liljeblad. Divisional winners included Mary Lammi (masters), Susan Gustafson (seniors) and Marlena Yannetti (veterans).
The men's master, senior and veteran division winners included no surprises. Wayne Jacob, Larry Olsen and Bill Riley, three well-known names in the Grand Prix circuit, were the respective winners.
Over the years, the Central Mass Striders have been the dominant force in the USATF-NE Grand Prix. CMS has been the overall Grand Prix champion for the past several years and the CMS men's open team has won the Grand Prix for an amazing thirteen consecutive years. The last time that CMS did not finish first in the men's open competition was in 1984, the first year of the Grand Prix's existence. And while it is not unusual at a Grand Prix race to see CMS win two or three team titles, CMS did at CHIPs what it and no other club has ever done - win five of the seven team championships.
In the men's open division, the only Grand Prix race that CMS has failed to win since 1994 was last year's 5K, the Brewery Exchange in Lowell, when CMS finished second to the host Greater Lowell Road Runners. Led by Killian Lonergan, CMS placed five runners in the top eleven of this year's 5K and left no doubt as to the outcome. When asked about the reasons for the team's success, one of the CMS team members responded, "Commitment and depth. None of the five who scored for us today competed at Melrose and none of the guys who scored for us at Melrose competed today." The first race in this year's Grand Prix, the half-marathon, was held in Melrose, Massachusetts in March. CMS was able to field two totally different men's open teams for the two races.
In addition to the men's open, CMS also won the men's master, men's veteran, women's master and women's senior team titles. The Boston Running Club scored its second consecutive women's open win, while the Merrimack Valley Striders were the top men's senior team.