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July 4, 2013 · 9:32 pm

Moninda Marube and Mary Pardi win 37th Annual Bridgton 4 on the Fourth

(Bridgton) Last year the elite runners from away stayed away.

On this very hot morning, a collection of talented newcomers appeared and dominated the 37th annual race.

Moninda Marube

Mary Pardi

Moninda Marube, the 34-year-old originally from Kenya, started fast and won easily with a time of 20:27.

Second place finisher Matt Rand (Tufts University) trailed Moninda by over thirty seconds.

Finishing third was Craig Robinson (Bentley University) who trailed Matt by nearly thirty second.

So there was plenty of space between the first three. In each case, the runner ahead had reached the Bridgton News office as the next runner was coming down the hill above the Big A.
The promising youngster among the Top Ten was 15-year-old Thomas Ratcliffe, the Concord-Carlisle sophomore, who overtook John Vallo (Southern Maine) down the stretch to capture 4th. Thomas won the Dual County (MA) League championship for the mile in outdoor track as a freshman.

Matt Rand

Jenna Willett

Philip Parent of Pinkerton Academy (Derry NH) followed Pete Bottomley and Silas Eastman to get 8th.

Last year’s winner (Silas Eastman) finished two full minutes after the 2013 winner Moninda Marube in seventh place. Silas just graduated from Fryeburg Academy and in the fall will be attending Colby College.

Fifty-one-year-old Pete Bottomley reached sixth this time around after his best finish ever (3rd) in 2012.

Forty-year old Michael Keenan (South Glastonbury CT) got past Taylor Days-Merrill (Assumption College freshman) late to gain the ninth spot.

Mary Pardi finished twentieth overall and first among the women. Mary was ninth among the women in the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon.

Craig Robinson

Bridget Gagne

Jenna Willett (Kenyon College Fighting Scots) was second and Bridget Gagne (winner of the Miles for Miracles in Hartford last month) took third.

The tough heat was certainly a factor in this one. My suspicion is that many runners signed up but (wisely?) chose to stay away from the actual event. It was even hot watching the race!

The coolest spot in the area had to be where a mother duck and her five ducklings were situated in Stevens Brook as the race went on.

I did some Google research on Moninda Marube and was able to see his Facebook page. One of the pictures on the page looked very familiar to me and I realized that I had seen Moninda run last July in the Newburyport Yankee Homecoming 10-miler. Moninda came in a close 4th against a very strong field. Here is my story/pictures from that race.

Click here to see the race results for the 2013 Bridgton 4 on the 4th.

(If you click on any of the pictures they will enlarge considerably.)

Stevens Brook – the place to be!

John Vallo, Thomas Ratcliffe, and Pete Bottomley

Tim Even (17th)

Michael Keenan (1051) and Taylor Days-Merrill (1026)

Philip Parent

Silas Eastman

July 4th runners

Seth Shimberg wears the flag

Jonny Wilson Wins 35th 4 on the 4th Road Race in Bridgton

Jonny Wilson on his way to winning the 35th 4 on the 4th.

Chris Harmon (#1924), Richard Klauber (#1625), and Jonny Wilson (#1516) at the start.

(Bridgton ME) Jonny Wilson from Falmouth (ME) and the University of Richmond won the 35th 4 on the 4th road race on Monday morning at Bridgton in 20:19.

A record-setting 1849 runners finished the race on an overcast morning with temperatures close to 70 degrees at the muggy 8AM start. In typical Maine weather fashion, the temperatures rose into the 80s by early afternoon before a rowdy thunder/lightning storm appeared in mid-afternoon only to be followed by very pleasant temps in the upper 70s later in the afternoon. The good news was that the warm weather and the showers didn’t show up until after the race was over.

The first five finishers (Jonny Wilson, Richard Klauber, Christopher Harmon, John Vallo, and Sean Livingston) ran from the turn onto Main Street past The Magic Lantern with comfortable cushions between each other.

Jonny’s lead was a little difficult to gauge because the police escort came down part of the hill before turning off. Once the escort left it was clear that Jonny (red shirt senior on this year’s Spider track team) was not going to be caught by Richard Klauber. Last year’s winner, Phil Richert (19:58), was past The Magic Lantern before another runner appeared at the top of the hill.

Pickles Lajoie in 6th with plenty of competition closing fast.

The final positioning for places 6-11 (Pickles Lajoie, Silas Eastman, Tim Even, Erica Jesseman, Pete Bottomley, and John Barbour) was settled after the Magic Lantern. Pickles had 6th going past me but had to run for his life after Reny’s to keep that spot.

Tim Even made up at least three spots after he passed by me.

My wife and I always are on hand at the start to make our winner selections. She had Phil Richert last year! This time she went with Richard Klauber who finished second. I went with Tim Even. He finished fifth last year but this time lost contact with the top five and had to sprint in the last hundred yards to get 8th.

John Vallo (4th), Pickles Lajoie (6th), and Tim Even (8th) all were connected to the University of Southern Maine’s track team this past season.

Christopher Harmon (3rd) was a senior at Maine this year and part of their track program.

Sean Livingston (5th) won this race in 2005 and 2006. The 42-year-old from Barrington, Rhode Island coaches cross country at Roger Williams University in Bristol (RI).

Silas Eastman with Erica Jesseman gaining ground on the left.

Silas Eastman (7th) is only 16. He was 6th last year and 7th the year before as a 14-year-old. He’ll be a senior at nearby Fryeburg Academy in the fall.

Erica Jesseman (9th) was the top woman finisher this year, last year, and in 2006. The former UNH runner dropped nearly a minute off her time (23:06) last year to this year (22:10).

Pete Bottomley (10th) finished ninth last year. The 49-year-old started running as a senior at Oxford (ME) Hills and then went on to make the cross country team at Maine.

John Barbour (11th) is a 57-year-old who qualified in 1988 and 1996 for the Olympic Marathon Trials. Recently he started an indoor track team at Manchester-Essex High school in Manchester, Massachusetts. He lives in Gloucester (MA).

Kristin Barry was top Maine woman runner at 2010 Beach to the Beacon 10K

Kristin Barry (12th) helped run the Cheverus track program this school year. She is 37 and the mother of two. She was a very successful runner at Dartmouth before going to Georgetown to become a lawyer. Last year she was the 10th woman finisher at the Beach to Beacon 10K and the first female Mainer to cross the finish line.

I am not a professional photographer but like the proverbial blind squirrel I do happen into an acorn occasionally! I do not charge for any of the pictures you see in this entry. I will send pictures via email to anyone interested. My email address is in the CONTACT at the top of the blog page.

(Any of my statistical information and caption information is unofficial.)