SANTA CRUZ -- The next generation of swift Santa Cruz road racers is on its way in, at least if Wednesday's Firecracker 10-kilometer race is any indication.
Firecracker 10k competitors head down Harvey West Boulevard just after the start. Organizers said about 550 people competed. (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)
Two young runners making their 10k road racing debuts finished tops among locals. Harbor High alum Lindsay Christman, 22, won the women's race in 39 minutes, 20 seconds and Santa Cruz High junior Brennan Lynch, 16, took second among the men in 36:30.
Craig Lee, 27, of Santa Clara officially won the race in 35:49, though he wasn't the first to the finish line at Harvey West Park.
Lee's running partner, Santa Clara High senior Kindu Ejigu, broke away from Lee at the 2-mile marker and, led by two pace bikes and many cheers, arrived first to the finish area. But since Ejigu hadn't signed up for the race, he gracefully stepped aside before crossing the line. Several seconds later, Lee strode through, pointing to Ejigu in mock frustration.
But Lee, a former Cal runner, said he wasn't upset at Ejigu, 17, for stealing his glory. He was, however, upset about him taking the lead.
"He stole my pace bike," said Lee, who on a few occasions had to ask spectators for directions.
| Lee and Ejigu had encountered similar navigational troubles earlier in the morning when they ran the course as a warmup. They were expecting to have time to relax, and sign up Ejigu, between the warmup and the race. Because they got lost, however, they ended up with less than 30 minutes between runs. |
That also means he knows plenty about the course's landmark hill, a mile-long climb about halfway down the course.
"That's where I caught the people; I'm a climber," Lynch said. "I think that's the most joy I get"
But it was Lynch's descending that put him ahead of defending champion Jeff Gardina of Santa Cruz, who finished third [36:47].
Gardina, 25, was making his return to racing after winning the Big Sur Marathon in April. Yet between recovering from that race and commuting to his new job in the biotech industry in San Francisco, he said he hasn't had much time to train. Gardina finished about 1�1/2 minutes slower than in 2006 and about 2�1/2 minutes faster than his fiancee, Christman.
"That's sad for you, good for me," Christman said upon hearing the difference. "That's probably the closest I'll ever be to you"
Gardina's not counting on it.
Christman, who ran for UC Santa Barbara before graduating in the fall, was running in her first road race. She easily beat Santa Cruz uber-athlete and women's second-place finisher Laura Home [42:18], even though Home improved her time over last year's second-place finish by about 30 seconds.
To top it all off, Christman [like Home] was just using the Firecracker as a tune-up for the 6-mile Wharf to Wharf, which she'll run on July 22 as an elite athlete. By then, Gardina said, they will probably be running side by side.
"She's faster than I am, really," Gardina said.
Regardless of their road racing experience, none of the Firecracker's top finishers had it easy. Organizers said the race drew about 550 entrants, the most since the Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary took over the race in 2004, and more than 100 more than last year.
"I think it was a great success," race director Jeff Kirk said. "I think having it on a Wednesday helped. We printed up 100 more T-shirts than we ever needed and we ran out"
Kirk said more shirts would be printed and mailed to entrants. He couldn't promise the same for the race's traditional finish-line treat, fruit popsicles, which also ran dry.
Eventually, Kirk said the Sunrise Rotary would like the race to reach 1,000 runners � the course's capacity. After Wednesday, that number doesn't look far out of reach.
"It's just been a great year," Kirk said. "It exceeded our wildest dreams for this year"
But with so many young local runners on the rise, next year could be even better.
Contact Julie Jag at jjag@santacruzsentinel.com.
