Bea Marie Altieri was just in
town to see a friend. While she was here, she decided to run in the Howard
County Striders' Metric Marathon (26.2k).
Altieri, a former Columbia resident who now lives in
Florida, won the women's race in 1 hour, 43 minutes, 43 seconds and
finished fourth overall a few minutes behind the Metric Marathon's men's
winner, Jason Tripp.
Pat Keating, the second-place finisher among the women,
never stood a chance and didn't even see Altieri after the start.
"She could have run the (accompanying) 5k and still had
enough time to beat me in the Metric," Keating said.
Keating and Altieri were the only women in the field to
break two hours for the 16.3-mile race.
The men's competition was closer, but winner Tripp really
had no problems with the field. Tripp surged to an early lead and expected
other runners would match his pace, but "nobody wanted to come along," he
said.
Tripp's winning time of 1:39:16 represented a Metric
personal record. "I thought I had to break 1:40 to make it legitimate," he
said.
Known for its hills as well as its peculiar distance, the
Metric Marathon course runs from the center of Columbia to Ellicott City
and back on residential roads as well as bike paths.
Those not quite up to running the full Metric competed in
a 5k race. In that race, Junior Strider Nicole Shouse, 13, gave veteran
Robyn Humphrey, 40, quite a scare, but the older runner squeezed out a win
in 19:16.
In the men's 5k, Jay Sweet outlasted Luis Diaz to win in
17:24.
A field of 308 runners completed the Metric Marathon,
while 130 completed the 5k. The age group winners were:
Metric Marathon
Results
