2010 Fifth Avenue Mile

The runner does not run because 

he is too slight for football or hasn't

the ability to put a ball through a hoop

or can't hit a curve ball. He runs because

he has to. Because in being a runner, in

moving through pain and fatigue and suffering,

in imposing stress upon stress, in eliminating

all but the necessities of life, he is fulfilling himself

and becoming the person he is.

-Dr George Sheehan

2010 Fifth Avenue Mile Recap And Results: Shannon Rowbury And Amine Laalou Cap 2010 Seasons With Wins In New York

by: LetsRun.comSeptember 26, 2009

The 5th Avenue Mile is the end of the season for a lot of track and field runners and while some in Sunday's field will be continuing on to the Commonwealth Games, Shannon Rowbury and Amine Laalou ended their seasons with wins in New York. Women's recap first, then men's.

Women's Race: Rowbury Times It Perfectly

Shannon Rowbury knows how to run on Fifth Avenue in New York. She showed that on Sunday by timing her kick perfectly to repeat as Fifth Avenue Mile Champion, overtaking Erin Donohue in the final ten meters.

Donohue, dumped by Rowbury's coach John Cook last year, has had a tremendous 2010 (1:59.99 for 800m) and she almost capped it off with a 5th Avenue Mile victory. She, like many before her, however, just slightly misjudged her kick and was overtaken in the final ten meters.

The pace was a modest 2:16 (estimated split) the slightly uphill first 800m and Donohue was in the lead picking up the $1,000 prime. The pace would only quicken on the downhill to the finish. 1,200m was in roughly 3:20 (Carmen Douma-Hussar in the lead) and then Donohue started making her bid for home. At 200m from the finish, she opened a gap on the field. 200m is a long way to sprint and Rowbury took advantage of that. With 100m to go, Rowbury was still in fifth (Donohue still had a couple of meters gap on the field with Sara Hall, Morgan Uceny, Hannah England and Rowbury in close pursuit) with Donohue still out in front. Rowbury, however, saved it all for one final perfect kick. Donohue put up a game fight, but roughly ten meters from the finish, Rowbury overtook Donohue and held off Hall as Donohue slipped to third.

Afterwards, Rowbury told the NYRR, "To be honest, I thought Erin had it at the end." She said however she had learned to look at the signs put out that say there is 200m to the finish and then 100m to the finish. Obviously pleased with her repeat win, she said, "I love this race; it's such a fun way to end the season."

1	31	Shannon Rowbury	26	San Francisco	CA	USA	Nike	4:24.12
2	40	Sara Hall	27	Mammoth Lakes	CA	USA	Asics	4:24.34
3	34	Erin Donohue	27	Haddonfield	NJ	USA	Nike	4:24.40
4	42	Hannah England	23	Birmingham		Great Britain	Nike	4:25.29
5	39	Molly Huddle	26	Providence	RI	USA	Saucony	4:25.92
6	33	Morgan Uceny	25	Mammoth Lakes	CA	USA	Reebok	4:26.27
7	43	Amy Mortimer	29	Kansas City	MO	USA	Reebok	4:27.07
8	35	Carmen Douma-Hussar	33	Ardmore	PA	Canada	New Balance	4:27.53
9	36	Elisa Cusma Piccione	29	Modena		Italy	Nike	4:28.50
10	41	Treniere Moser	28	Knoxville	TN	USA	Nike	4:28.84
11	37	Nicole Edwards	24	Ann Arbor	MI	Canada	Saucony	4:29.14
12	50	Gabriele Anderson	24	Minneapolis	MN	USA	Brooks	4:30.95
13	47	Heather Dorniden	23	Minneapolis	MN	USA	Team USA Minnesota	4:31.05
14	48	Hilary Stellingwerff	29	Le Mont sur Lausan		Canada	New Balance	4:32.06
15	44	Megan Wright	28	Morgantown	WV	Canada	New Balance	4:35.28
16	45	Liz Maloy	25	Washington	DC	USA	New York Athletic Club	4:37.06
17	49	Aziza Aliyu	24	Bronx	NY	Ethiopia	West Side Runners	4:37.84
18	46	Brenda Martinez	23	Alamosa	CO	USA	New Balance	4:46.36

Men's Race: Amine Laalou Gets Some Respect

If Amine Laalou didn't have your respect before now, hopefully he does now, as he ran 3:52.83 to defeat a star-studded field at the 5th Avenue Mile.

Laalou had the fastest 800m (1:43.71) and 1,500m (3:29.53) this year in the field. He made the finals of the 800m and 1,500m at last year's World Championships. Yet heading into the 5th Avenue Mile, all the talk was on which American would win the race.

After a slow (over 2:00) uphill opening 800m, the real running began. Former NCAA champ Alistair Cragg, who ran a half marathon last weekend, threw down the gauntlet the third quarter, opening up a ten-meter lead at 1,200m, figuring the only way he was going to win the race was to steal it.

The field behind him, however, had too much talent and savvy to let that happen. They caught Cragg with 200m to go and all the main contenders (Laalou, double world champ Bernard Lagat, last year's champ Andy Baddeley, Alan Webb, Leo Manzano, Nick Willis) were all there ready to go all out to the finish. Lagat had the lead but Laalou was positioned perfectly on him and they would battle it out the final 100m. Laalou passed Lagat the final 20 meters and got the win.

Lagat held on for 2nd, Baddely closed well for 3rd, Webb was a very respectable 4th, Manzano didn't quite have his great last 100m and was 5th, and Nick Willis, who had been in great position with 100m to go, was 6th.

Afterward, Laalou dedicated the victory to his 15-day-old daughter. Webb told the AP, "I give myself a C-plus for the day. I have come a long way this year. It's good just to be in the mix and competing with these guys again."

1	3	Amine Laalou	28	Rabaat		Morocco	Nike	3:52.83
2	2	Bernard Lagat	35	Tucson	AZ	USA	Nike	3:53.30
3	1	Andy Baddeley	28	London		Great Britain	New Balance	3:53.34
4	6	Alan Webb	27	Portland	OR	USA	Nike	3:53.72
5	4	Leonel Manzano	26	Austin	TX	USA	Nike	3:54.17
6	5	Nick Willis	27	Ann Arbor	MI	New Zealand	Reebok	3:54.81
7	9	Will Leer	25	Eugene	OR	USA	Oregon TC Elite	3:55.02
8	7	Tom Lancashire	25	Manchester		Great Britain	Nike	3:55.22
9	8	David Torrence	24	Berkeley	CA	USA	Nike	3:55.43
10	11	Adrian Blincoe	30	Bryn Mawr	PA	New Zealand	New Balance	3:56.07
11	14	Garrett Heath	24	Palo Alto	CA	USA	Saucony	3:56.15
12	17	Daniel Huling	27	Geneva	IL	USA	Reebok	3:56.77
13	22	Pedro Antonio Esteso	33	Madrid		Spain	Strands.com	3:56.96
14	10	Haron Lagat	27	Lubbok	TX	Kenya	New Balance	3:57.43
15	12	Taylor Milne	29	Guelph	ON	Canada	New Balance	3:58.05
16	15	Tim Bayley	28	Lafayette	CA	Great Britain	Puma	3:58.29
17	18	Alistair Cragg	30	Mammoth Lakes	CA	Ireland	adidas	3:58.59
18	21	Abiyot Endale	24	Bronx	NY	Ethiopia	Westchester TC	4:02.41
19	20	Sean Brosnan	33	Wantagh	NY	USA	Mizuno	4:04.92
20	19	Jon Rankin	28	Seattle	WA	Cayman Islan	MarathonGuide.com	4:12.06

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