Unlike last year's race, no one from the Rochester Hills-based Hansons-Brooks running team was playing rock-paper-scissors during the final mile to decide which member of the team would get to take first overall in the inaugural Brooksie Way Half Marathon.This year there was no group of runners near the finish line, it was pretty much U.S. Olympian Brian Sell leading the race from start to finish.
Sell set a new race record Saturday with a time of 1:06.27, shaving 1:52 off of his time from last year's race, when Pat Rizzo was the Hansons-Brooks member who won.
This year, Sell ran side-by-side with teammate Nick Arciniaga for the first three miles of the race before pulling away for good after coming out of the Paint Creek Trail near the seven-mile mark.
“Today I felt really good, there was a slight breeze but it wasn’t blowing into my face and slowing me down or anything like that,” said Sell, who ran a 5:04 (mile) pace, faster than last year's 5:13 pace. “Last year was a really high-tempo race, and this year was no different. There are a lot of hills in this race that can make it tough, but I knew what I was in for and am really happy with how I ran.”
Arciniaga was second in 1:06.53 and Chad Johnson, also a member of the Hansons-Brooks team, was third in 1:08.48.
“Brian (Sell) showed why he is such a great runner today,” Arciniaga said. “I ran a really good race, but once he went ahead there wasn’t anyone who was going to catch him.”
In last year’s, race former Powers Catholic runner Leo Foley, 28, of Howell, was the top area runner in the race, finishing fifth overall in 1:11.25. This year was no different, as Foley was again the area’s top finisher in 1:19.12, good for 10th overall.
Eryn Caton of Rochester Hills was the women’s winner in 1:21.59. Fenton’s Shawn Reiser was the first woman from Genesee County to finish, placing 13th among women finishers and 129th overall in 1:36.04.
Crim race founder Bobby Crim, 77, placed 1,462nd out of 2,373 half marathon finishers in 2:13.33.
Michael Cudlip of Ft. Gratiot won the 5-kilometer race in 18:18. Patricia Collins of Rochester Hills won the women’s race in 21:29.
Adam Rose, 15, of Macomb was the handcycle race for a second consecutive year in 37:56
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