Sambu, U.S. trio to pave way
FALMOUTH ROAD RACE
Stephen Sambu will be chasing history today in the 45th annual Falmouth Road Race as the Kenyan star seeks to become the first four-time men’s winner, while Neely Spence Gracey, Lindsey Scherf and Jessica Tonn will look to ride the wave of recent stellar performances by other top American women runners.
This will be the fourth time running Falmouth for Gracey, who was an eight-time NCAA Division 2 champion while at Shippensburg University where her husband-coach Dillon Gracey was a teammate. Gracey ran sixth last year (37:50) and finished fourth in 2015 (37:32). In ’15, Gracey displayed her prodigious talent by edging fifth-place finisher Amy Cragg (37:53) of the United States. Cragg would go on to capture the 2016 U.S. Olympic women’s marathon trials and last week won a bronze medal in the marathon event at the world championships in London.
Performances by Cragg, steeplechase gold-silver medalists Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs and 1,500-meter silver medalist Jenny Simpson at the recent world championships meet have bolstered the hopes other American women.
“Certainly it was very exciting to watch the U.S. women at the world championships,” Gracey said. “I probably watched it more because there were more American women and they were more competitive. I hope there will be a time when I will be there.”
Scherf, a three-time All-American while at Harvard, was also impressed with the world championships showing.
“It was quite exciting to see,” Scherf said. “They worked so hard over the years to develop in some case from modest performances and probably even shocked themselves. It proved that if you open your mind there are things that are possible.”
Gracey said she has learned much each time she runs the scenic course.
“Last year, I tried to run with the (Falmouth) pack but it was a good reminder that I usually run better when I run my own race,” Gracey said. “I always like to have a strong finish. So, this year, I want to have a strong finish and perhaps run a little more conservatively early. What’s funny is that my racing schedule is always changing. I often don’t repeat races. But, every year I come back to run Falmouth. I love its course. The race is organized. I love the off-distance (seven miles), and I have a wonderful host family.”
The men’s race will center on defending champion Sambu (2014-16), who will be looking to snap a tie with fellow American Bill Rodgers (1974, ’77-78) and Gilbert Okari (200406) of Kenya for the most Falmouth wins. Sambu and Okari are the only threepeat winners.
Sambu, a nine-time All-American at the University of Arizona under coach James Li, has enjoyed significant success locally with victories in the BAA 10K and distance medley in 2013-14.
“Everyone wants to run Falmouth and everyone wants to win it,” Sambu said. “It’s a tough race. In order to win that race even one time is really good, to win four times would be amazing.”
No American has won the men’s race at Falmouth since Mark Curp in 1988 (32:22). Two-time champion Khalid Khannouchi, who later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, won consecutive events in 1997-98 while representing his native Morocco.
The total prize package for this year’s race is $119,000, including firstplace money of $10,000.
David Duba and Jenny Taylor, of Cambridge, the winners of the inaugural Falmouth race that was conducted on race founder Tommy Leonard’s 40th birthday in August 1973, are expected to be the official starters of the men’s and women’s open division races.