Habtom Samuel of Eritrea crosses the finish line as the men’s champions at the TD Beach to Beacon 10K on Saturday in Cape Elizabeth after pulling away from Patrick Kiprop, who led for most of the race. Samuel won in 27 minutes, 40 seconds. (Greg Rec/Staff Photographer)
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CAPE ELIZABETH — Habtom Samuel had never run the TD Beach to Beacon 10K course. While being driven along the route by his host family in the days leading up to the race, Samuel noticed the hills in the final mile.
“I said ‘OK, this is the place I can make the difference,’” he said.
On Saturday, the plan met reality. After running stride-for-stride with Patrick Kiprop for most of the race, Samuel separated down the stretch and won with a time of 27 minutes, 40 seconds.
“The last mile is literally uphill, downhill. And the uphill is very hard,” said Samuel, of Ethiopia. “But I’m good at the uphill.”
Kiprop, a Kenyan who was the runner-up last year to record-setter Conner Mantz, took second again at 27:48, followed by Raphael Lekini Dapash (28:03) of Kenya, British runner Patrick Dever (28:05) of Durham, North Carolina, and Biya Simbassa (28:11) of Flagstaff, Arizona.
It was a banner day for University of New Mexico running, as two former Lobos, Samuel and Pam Kosgei, earned victories and $10,000 top prizes. Kosgei, running her first road race, took the women’s title in 31:51, only 2 seconds ahead of Elise Cranny, who was vying to become the first American woman to win the race.
Molly Born, a fourth-place finisher last year from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, placed third in 32:15, followed by Annie Rodenfels (32:20) of Longmont, Colorado, and Wuga He (32:22) of Tucson, Arizona.
Kosgei, a 22-year-old Kenyan, grabbed the lead after running with Cranny upon entering Fort Williams Park, and then held on while the Colorado native tried to close the gap in the final moments.
Pamela Kosgei of Kenya sprints to the finish to win the women’s race Saturday at the Beach to Beacon 10K. Elise Cranny followed just behind to take second place. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
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“I’m feeling so good, and I’m proud for myself,” she said. “Because this is my first 10K, I don’t have any tactics for road races, so I just did my best to see what would happen.”
The men’s race featured no charges early, as the lead pack hung together for the first three miles. By the fourth mile, Kiprop and Samuel, the two favorites, began to distance from the group. Kiprop took the lead at the halfway point, only for Samuel to pull even at the Cape Elizabeth Town Hall.
Kiprop tried again, moving a few feet ahead around 4 1/2 miles in, but Samuel caught up a second time before the 5-mile mark, their strides hitting the pavement in perfect sync.
For Kiprop, the realization was beginning to set in.
“I was trying to break him,” he said, “but you know, he’s a strong guy. He’s a good competitor.”
On the final hills, Samuel pulled away for good.
“Patrick, he crushed every race he entered, so … I knew he was going to be my biggest competition, my biggest rival,” said Samuel. “I know my strengths. I said ‘OK, this is the only time I can drop him. … This is the time.’”
Kiprop praised Samuel’s finishing kick.
“He was feeling strong coming over the hills, and I didn’t feel that good on the hills,” Kiprop said. “I tried closing the gap, but I wasn’t able to.”
In the women’s race, Rodenfels jumped out to a quick lead before a group of four that included Born, Cranny and Kosgei took form.
“At one point, I was like ‘I feel like we’re in a track race,’” said Cranny, who won four national track championships at Stanford.
In the fifth mile, it became a battle between Kosgei and Cranny, who ran neck-and-neck through the final hills before Kosgei, with the finish line approaching, took the lead near the park entrance.
“I was feeling good, I wasn’t even expecting to be winning,” she said. “I just said ‘Let me stretch my legs, maybe I’ll win.’”
Cranny’s problem wasn’t energy. It was the time she had remaining.
“I feel like I ran out of real estate,” she said. “I thought I had enough time to make up ground, and people told me yesterday to be careful, you’ll get to the grass and you’ll think you have time, and the finish is right there. That’s kind of what happened to me.”
The race remains without an American women’s champion, 28 years in.
“I wasn’t aware of that, and then my agent told me after,” Cranny said. “I was like ‘Oh, that kind of makes it even worse!’”
Cranny settled for being the top American female, while Simbassa was the top American male. The top Maine male was Alec Troxell in 29:15, and Ruth White was the fastest Maine female in 34:05.
Troxell was part of a group including Will Geoghegan, Colin Cernik and Aaron Willingham who trained together for months in a bid to break the Maine men’s record of 29:10, set by Ben True in 2009.
