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| Pierce, Ficker Tops at Livestrong Austin Marathon |
| Date Posted: 2/20/2011 | |
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Keith Pierce tends to win the marathons he enters. Formerly a resident of Krum, Texas, he’s a three- time Cowtown Marathon champ, and he won Austin last year in a personal best of 2:20:35. But headed into Sundays race, Pierce, was coming off a third place in November’s Rock ‘n Roll San Antonio Marathon and a seventh place at the Metro Dallas White Rock Marathon in December. So he was looking for a little numbers adjustment.
He got it on Sunday (Feb. 20), winning the LIVESTRONG Austin Marathon’s 20th edition in 2:29:25, well off his personal best of 2:20:35 set at last year’s race under far better conditions.
Pierce expected Cleveland’s Kyle Baker, a 2:14 marathoner, to push the pace, but Baker, nursing a knee injury, opted to up cover the 26.2 miles as a recreational runner, never a factor in the race.
Instead, it was South Africa’s Sipho Ngxongo who challenged Pierce, if only for a few miles. It was 64 degrees at the start on Congress Avenue just north of the Capitol, far from ideal, but Ngxongo passed through mile one in 5:11 and two in 10:24, an ambitious 2:15 marathon pace.
But Pierce eased into the lead just after the 5K point (16:56), and steadily drew away from Ngxongo as the miles clicked by. At 10 miles (54:11), as Pierce passed under MoPac and turned north on Winsted Lane, Ngxongo was a minute and a half arrears, not even visible on the course.
With no one to push him, Pierce focused on maintaining a strong pace and keeping his lead, grabbing water at every aid station he passed.
“Going into the race, I knew the conditions would make it tough, so I tried to adjust for that. Knowing that you’re out in front and have a chance to win, that kind of drives you to keep going,” Pierce said.
But it wasn’t easy.
“From mile 25 to 26, I was really hurting,” said Pierce. “I almost considered walking.”
But Pierce, battling the humid conditions and mounting fatigue, made a final drive to the finish, breaking the tape in 2:29:25.
“I’m a little disappointed in my time, but I’m really happy to come out here and win again,” said Pierce.
Phil Sneller, who recently relocated to Austin from New York City, worked his way into contention, and passed a fading Ngxongo with half a mile to go to take second place in 2:34:20. Ngxongo took third in 2:35:11, ahead of Thomas Lentz, of Cincinnati, OH (2:37:08) who was also first master.
In the women’s race, triathlete extraordinaire Desiree Ficker won by an even wider margin than Pierce, though like Pierce, her 2:50:35 was well off her best time- a 2:39 run in New York.
And like Pierce, she fell short of an Olympic qualifying time, at least in this race.
Jessica Mike of Minneapolis was the second place woman, with three of the top five from Texas- Meredith Thompson of Killeen took third in 3:03:23, Kerry Camberg of Tempe AZ first master and fourth in 3:08:51, and Flower Mound ‘s Ingrid Schwendinger taking fifth in 3:11:21.
In the accompanying half-marathon, Austinite David Fuentes won the race, in 1:08:45, ahead of Scott Rantall’s 1:09:04. Lubbock’s Nick Cordes finished third in 1:12:16. Elizabeth Eder of Fort won the women’s half in 1:21:56, ahead of Renee High of Virginia Beach (1:22:16 ). The indefatigable Joan Samuelson (1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist) was third overall in 1:24:52 at age 53.
Ficker, who has a full triathlon schedule ahead of her for next spring, was overheard telling Samuelson after the race- “It was tough out there today!”
Behind the frontrunners, 6,000 competitors—the biggest marathon field ever assembled in Austin—dealt with high humidity and temperatures rising into the 70’s by race’s finish.
“It was a tough day for racing a marathon,” said Austin’s Frank Livaudais who has run a marathon in all 50 states and clocked 3:14:44 for 112th place on Sunday. “But I’m glad I finished.”
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