Moninda Marube and Kristin Barry win 2016 Bridgton 4 on the Fourth

(Bridgton ME) Moninda Marube won the Bridgton 4 on the Fourth for the third time in the last four years on a warm Monday July 4^th morning.

Several thousand runners completed the 4-mile course.

In all three wins, Moninda has not been in any kind of competitive danger coming down Main Street.

In the other two wins, Moninda was still tight to the task along Main Street but not today.  He was smiling with thumbs up at the Bridgton Library well aware of Jim Johnson (2^nd place finisher) being too far back to catch him.

I had hoped that last year’s winner (Andrew Stewart) would be in the field because if time’s mean anything the race down Main Street would have been close.  Maybe next year?

The 40^th anniversary of the race had a special ring to it because previous winners were invited back.  Those that attended were given the racing bib number of the year they won the event.  Nice touch.

Got my first look at race record holder Colin Peddie.  The tall gentleman did the course in 18:46 in 1987.  Ben True was the closest to that record with an 18:58 in 2009.

I think you will need two very good runners in the race to push each other to a run at that 18:46. Moninda was able to win today’s race with a “leisurely” time of 20:41.

Jim Johnson took second.  Jim is from Madison (NH) and has been the New Hampshire Snowshoe’s Champion for the last eight years.

Silas Eastman (2012 winner) was third.  Silas was sporting the Colby colors.  He is a senior in the fall.  His parents were part of a storytelling performance that was at the Brick Church (Lovell) on Friday night.

Chris Garvin (4^th) from Charlestown RI was 5^th the last two years.

Nate Richards took fifth.  Nate is a senior at Principia College in Illinois.  Nate was 3^rd last year.  He is currently a counselor at Camp Newfound in Harrison.

19-year-old Jose Rosas of Queen University in Charlotte (NC) ended 6^th.  The sophomore’s time was 21:33.

Robert Hollis of UMaine Farmington was 7^th.  Robert won this year’s North Atlantic Conference championship in cross country.

Chris Dunn, from Kennebunk, took 8^th.  Chris was a senior as Southern Maine this year.

Kevin Tilton (9^th) went to UNH.  He was 2^nd in this race in 2004 and 2006.  He was 4^th in 2008.

Andy Spaulding is a former winner (2002).  He ended 10^th today. He is part of the management of the Dirigo running club.

Former winner Kristin Barry (2001) returned in style to finish first among the women and 31^st overall (24:32).

Erin Flynn had Kristin in her sights coming down Main Street but ended up settling for 2^nd, finishing some eleven seconds after Kristin.  Erin won this race in 2009 and 2015.

Anna Laska of Bridgton and Fryeburg Academy was the third woman, finishing 46^th overall.

The race is always fun to attend.  The surrounding camps are well represented and some of the counselors are high-quality runners.  Plenty of patriotic stuff among the participants.  I especially admire those who run and chant down Main Street after running 3+ miles in 80-degrees heat.  Oh, to be young!

The highly competitiveness in this race ends pretty early after the top runners have gone by.  Many of the remaining runners look for familiar faces in the crowd.  I did see one young man leave the race, run up the stairs of the Bridgton Library, and plant a kiss on what I hope was a significant other.  My camera was not fast enough to catch that action!

RACE RESULTS

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)