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Coogan a runaway winner
BY ROB ROSE FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE
Sunday, August 19, 2007 11:42 PM EDT
NORTH ATTLEBORO - The common area in front of North Attleboro's Community School resembled a mini Olympic Village for yesterday's
Runaways Runaround Five Miler.
Two-time Olympian Amy Rudolph was there, having accepted an invitation to run several
weeks ago. It was the first Attleboro area race appearance for the Providence resident in more than a decade. The unexpected
Olympian who turned up was Attleboro native Mark Coogan. The 1996 Olympic Marathoner came to visit a friend and couldn't resist
pulling on the racing flats.
Coogan, a retired competitive runner now living in Exeter, NH, showed he still has the goods, easily winning in 27:02.
Rudolph, only three weeks back from an injury, was edged out of the winners' circle by Raynham's Amanda Kourtz, who bested
a deep women's field and set a new course record of 30:36.
On a cool, atypical August morning, the start of the race
held the promise of competition in the men's race.
Barrington's Tim Maguire bolted to the fore as the runners trundled
down Washington St. Within two minutes, reality intervened when Coogan jumped the lead. By the time the Bishop Feehan grad
had turned onto Metcalf within the first half mile and began his ascent to Anawan his competition was rapidly deteriorating.
When he hit the mile mark in 5:25, the race was effectively over as the field of 142 runners were over 100 yards in arrears.
The
balance of the race strongly resembled the last time Coogan competed in the area, the 2000 Old Fashioned 10 Miler in Foxboro.
That day, Coogan decimated a field comprised of strong B.A.A. runners to set a course record. There was no course record Sunday,
but the 41-year old still has enough magic in those fast twitch muscles to easily put great distances between himself and
the locals. There were stretches on Ellis and High St. where the other runners were not in sight.
"Came down to see
a friend of mine run," said Coogan. "He's running Chicago in the fall. His name's Danny Ison. Thought I'd jump into the race.
Lucky there's nobody good in there."
Although Coogan easily carried the day, his fitness was not up to his standards.
"I
was tired at the end," he said. "I haven't been running as much as I would like to. I probably only ran five days in the last
month so it was very hard. I was tired the last couple of miles. I wanted to run 5:20/5:25's and I did that for the first
couple miles. It got hard and hilly and I couldn't keep up so I said 'I'll just run it in.'"
Second-place finisher
Greg Payne was impressed even with the sub Olympic effort.
"He took off right away," said the North Attleboro High
School senior. "I was thinking about maybe trying going after him but he was obviously an elite runner so I let him go and
ran my own race."
How deep was the women's field?
Norton's Courtney Klenk, a perennial local race champion,
finished fourth. Greenville's Trish Hillery, who bested all the men and women at the Run For Humanity 5K in 2005, finished
third. Even an Olympian couldn't take Kourtz out on this day.
"My training partner challenged me to break 30," said
Kourtz. "I figured if I couldn't break 30 I would go for the record, which is 30:59. So I was trying to keep up pace with
that. I was trying to catch a couple of guys that were ahead. I just followed them the whole time."
Rudolph was vacillating
about racing due to her recent injury.
"I wasn't sure I was going to run because where I'm coming from," she said citing
her stress fracture. "I figured, I had to run today so I might as well get it over and take part in this wonderful race and
what it stands for. I was going out there for a solid run. I actually ran a lot faster than I wanted to. I guess all those
weeks cross training while I was out from an injury helped. I'm happy."
Rudolph was effusive in praising Kourtz's performance.
"She
ran a great race," she said. "She ran a really off the middle of the race, which is the hardest part. The beginning you're
fast and the end you can smell home. She ran a great middle of the race."
Although she was within striking distance,
Rudolph suppressed the urge to go after Kourtz.
"At one point I thought that but I'm so happy to be running and to
be healthy. This is my first real hard effort testing the foot and my lungs."
Kourtz was pleased with her effort but
understood that beating an Olympian is a rare occurrence.
"I'm sure she could beat me any day," she said. "She'll beat
me in some race I'm sure down the road."
Fifteen minutes after he finished, Coogan sat on the sidewalk waiting for
his friend to come in and ruminating about the day. Then, with an eye to the future and perhaps one to the past, he said.
"I'm
going to try to run every day. I was trying to see what shape I'm in so that's another reason for jumping in today. It's great
to come back. I love this place."
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