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July 5, 2015 · 12:38 pm

Andrew Stewart wins the 2015 Bridgton 4 on the Fourth

Winner Andrew Stewart leads the way past the Bridgton News office with second-place Silas Eastman in the distance

Silas Eastman (Colby) controls second

(Bridgton Me) Moninda Marube dominated the last two Bridgton 4 on the Fourth’s.

This year Moninda was missing and newcomer Andrew Stewart turned in an equally dominating win in the 39^th edition of this race.

The University of Louisville junior finished with a time of 20:19 on the four-mile course in an overcast day with temperatures in the high 60s at the outset.

Silas Eastman (winner in 2012) took second. The Colby junior trailed Andrew by 22 seconds. My picture shows Andrew passing the Bridgton News office as Silas is seen in the distance.

Good race for third between Nate Richards (Principia College) and Taylor Days-Merrill (Assumption College). Nate got it done by taking over a minute off of his 2014 time.

Chris Garvin of Charlestown (Rhode Island) ended 5^th.

The bragging rights battle was between Kennett High School (Conway NH) track coach Tim Livingston and KHS runner Nicholas Brown for 6th. The 16-year-old finished thirteen seconds behind his coach.

Will Hopkins (counselor at Camp O-At-Ka) via Maryland was 8^th and Benson Worthington, who starred at Brunswick (ME) High School got 9^th.

Jeff Lindy from Brookline (MA) rounded out the top ten.

Erin Flynn topped the women with an 18^th place finish. The Newton (MA) resident took over 1 ½ minutes off her 2014 time.

Mary Pardi of Falmouth (ME) was the second woman while Jodi Theriault of Portland completed the top women’s trio.

I mentioned earlier that Moninda Marube was unavailable. Moninda set out from Auburn (ME) on July 1^st on a 3,700 mile cross-country run. The purpose of his run is to raise awareness of human trafficking. Moninda hopes to reach California in November and run in a marathon at Santa Barbara. Godspeed to him!

Another missing piece in this year’s race was some sort of vehicle conflict. Every past year there are vehicles that try and navigate the race route from downtown Bridgton just as the Main Street part of the race is about to happen. Last year a truck drove up Main Street just seconds before the runners popped the hill after Highland Lake. None of that “excitement” this time around.

The early runners are so serious and fast. Then you get to the runners who are out for a fun run. They almost always have friends/family ready to let out hollers when they pass by. One of the event staff at the end of Church Street had several runners come over to her and hug her before they ran on to the finish.

Impressive rendition of the National Anthem by a nine-year-old before the race began.

I can’t wait to find out what brought winner Andrew Stewart from Kentucky to Maine for this race.

RACE RESULTS

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

Andrew Stewart (Louisville) before the race

Silas Eastman before the race

Taylor Day-Morrill (1909) chases Nate Richards for 3rd place

Chris Garvin (5th)

Kennett High coach Tim Livingston (6th)

Benson Worthington (9th)

Mary Pardi (2nd woman)

Nicholas Brown (453) 7th and Will Hopkins 8th

Jodi Theriault (3rd woman)

time to greet a friend

Nick Wilmott of New Zealand

riding to the finish

showing the colors

Stella Rose Boucher (1312)

Marsha, Bill, and Sheila

9-year-old dazzled with her rendition of the National Anthem

Song Kim of York, Maine

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.)