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Army Ten-Miler: Samia Akbar of Herndon and Ethiopian Alene Reta Set Women's and Men's Event Records
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By Jim Hage
Washington, DC
October 4, 2009
For the Washington Running Report
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Samia Akbar ran away with the country's biggest 10-mile race in event-record time, running 55 minutes 25 seconds to win the 25th anniversary Army Ten-Miler at the Pentagon on October 4. Akbar, from Herndon, represented the United States in the World Cross Country championships in Amman, Jordan last March and finished 18th in the Olympic Trials marathon in Boston in 2008. But to hear her tell it, the 27-year-old graduate of American University has been slumping.
"The last two years have been just so-so," she said. "So I'm just really excited to win here, at home--it's what I needed right now." Akbar hustled from the finish line to the congratulations and embraces of family and friends.
She started the race with Susan Malloy's 1995 event record of 56:20 very much in mind. "I was definitely thinking of the course record," Akbar said. "I tried to be conservative at the beginning, but I knew 5:37 [pace per mile] was course-record pace, and I tried to dip under 5:35."
Katie Read, from Arlington, took second in 56:39; Read (23) won the Clarendon Day 5K one week earlier in 16:54.
Alene Reta, an Ethiopian now living and training in New York City, led from the start and won the men's race in an event-record 46:59, breaking Dan Browne's 2004 mark of 47:32. Browne, an Athens Olympian and three-time Army winner, gave chase early on but faltered over the last three miles. Tesfay Girma, from Ethiopia and living in the Bronx, passed Browne with a mile to go and took second in 47:20. Browne ended up third in 47:49.
"The last three miles were rough," said Browne, a West Point graduate and Army major. "I wanted to come in and give it my best, and I did--but [Reta's] tough." Browne ran 2:16:24 and finished 24th in the World Championship marathon in Berlin in August, and said he felt lingering fatigue from that effort. He expected to make a decision about running the New York City Marathon on November 1 a few days after Army.
Last year's runner-up, former American University standout and now AU assistant coach Steve Hallinan, was the first local finisher and seventh in 49:32. "We went out so fast this year," Hallinan said. "It was tough from the start."
Hallinan's fellow AU coach, Edmund Burke (40), took second to Sergey Kalendin in his first Army race as a masters competitor, finishing 26th overall in 52:50. "I felt good; I had a lot of energy left at the end," Burke said.
Danielle Russell (45), from Ashburn, ran 1:01:57 and took second in the women's masters division to Elena Kaledina, wife of the men's masters winner. Laura Garza (44), from Alexandria, was third in 1:02:16.
Four-time race winner and two-time masters champion Alisa Harvey, from Manassas, finished 18th overall and was the fourth masters runner in 1:02:37. "It wasn't easy," said Harvey, who was fighting a cold a week earlier. "But I'm glad I ran."
Which was the sentiment of many of the record crowd of some 23,000 finishers on a crystalline morning. "This is the best race in Washington," said another masters standout, Mark Malander, from Herndon. "The competition for age-group competitors is great here, with all the locals and the military guys from around the world. And did you see the helicopter flyover at the start? They just put on a great show here."
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