Muge, Masai prevail

Race tactics are a change of pace

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine - Kiplimo Kimutai tried to manipulate the Beach to Beacon 10K yesterday, taking the lead pack on a stop-and-start ride across the hills of this coastal town. He surged ahead in the first minute and a half, slowed, then surged again, looking over his shoulder to see who was following, and zigzagging across the road to move away from the other runners.

But he couldn't shake Kenyan countryman Ed Muge or Ethiopia's Terefe Maregu Zewdie, and the trio stuck together throughout the race. Muge and Zewdie pulled ahead in Fort Williams Park, and in the last 50 yards, Muge sprinted past Zewdie, the world's top-ranked road racer, to reach the finish line a step ahead, winning in 27 minutes 52.4 seconds. All three leaders finished under 28 minutes, with Zewdie at 27:53 and Kimutai at 27:58.1. Defending champion Duncan Kibet looked uncomfortable when he tried to keep up with the top three, but he stayed with it to claim fourth in 28:21.

Kenya's Edith Masai led the women's race start to finish, sometimes with competitors on her heels and sometimes a few steps ahead as she repeatedly pushed the pace. Masai crossed the line in 31:55.6, followed by Lyudmila Biktasheva of Russia in 32:03. Masai, who is 41, won the women's race, the women's masters race, and the overall masters race. She was the first over-40 woman to win the women's title.

In an Olympic year, world-class runners tend to have one goal, one meet, one race on their minds. But not every victorious route goes through Beijing.

Muge, the Kenyan national champion in the 10,000 meters, was ill with malaria at the Kenyan Olympic trials, and missed a berth on the team. Yesterday's victory was his second straight win on the roads. Last week, at the Quad Cities Bix 7 Miler, he topped Zewdie again when the Ethiopian misjudged the finish line and pulled up too soon, letting Muge run by.

"Maybe it was God's plan for me to come to the US instead of the Olympics," Muge said.

It was a difficult race, with Kimutai pressing the pace in the first three minutes. The lead pack ran the first mile in 4:12, the second-fastest first mile in Beach to Beacon history.

"There was a crazy man out there," said Muge.

Zewdie was more blunt. "It was a very nice course," Zewdie began, "and one very crazy guy, one Kenyan. It's a tactic not for competition - push and stop, push and stop. That is not necessary."

The staccato rhythm took more energy for the runners, and may have affected Zewdie's finishing kick, which is formidable.

Kimutai, who came to Maine after finishing third last week in a half-marathon in Bogota at 8,000 feet, said he took a look at all the strong athletes in the race and decided to try mixing up the pace, hoping he could break away.

"At 4 miles, I thought I could do it," Kimutai said, "but in the last kilometers, my body didn't respond. I thought it could work but they were too strong for me."

Muge said he had expected Zewdie to win.

"In fact, I was not expecting to win," Muge said. "The last 400 meters, I now came and said, 'It [is] my time to win.' "

As for Masai, she simply can't stop herself. She, too, won last week's Bix 7 Miler. She's a few years past prime time for most distance runners, but her body is telling her something else. She keeps getting better.

Biktasheva worked diligently to stay with Masai but couldn't match her punishing pace.

"I'm running looking behind, at the ones following me," Masai said of the group of seven in the early pack, including Biktasheva and Yuri Kano of Japan. "I try to push it and then I push again, three times. If I saw it's close, it's easy for them. So I wait.

"After 5K, I go. Around 6 miles, I saw a second lady following me and then I thought maybe this one is stronger than me. So I look behind, then I go ahead and try to push it.

"The course is not easy - it's very difficult because it's not flat and it's not all hilly. It's straight, up, down. You must play your tactics."

Masai's final surge, as she and Biktasheva came into Fort Williams Park, propelled her to the victory.

The first American was Ben True of North Yarmouth, Maine, a Dartmouth graduate ('08), who ran 31:02 for 11th place. Rebecca Donaghue of State College, Pa., was first among US women in 33:00, the sixth female . . . Among the runners were four-time Boston Marathon champ Bill Rodgers and B2B and Marathon race director Dave McGillivray . . . Each year the race benefits a different children's charity. This year it was the Susan L. Curtis Foundation, sponsor of Camp Susan Curtis, a summer camp dedicated to improving the lives of economically disadvantaged Maine children ages 8-18 . . . The fog lifted off the ocean just as the race ended, revealing a banner of Joan Benoit Samuelson running in last year's New York City Marathon covering the famous Portland Head Light.

Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com.