In the stars:
Northern Irishman and Colorado State student wins three-way battle for 10-mile run.
Andrew Monaghan grew up in Northern Ireland, playing soccer and Gaelic football before running for Mississippi State with his twin brother. After graduating last December, he enrolled at Colorado State to further his education and train at high altitude in hopes of having a postcollegiate running career.
“Colorado was always somewhere I dreamed of visiting, never mind living and going to school,” Monaghan said Sunday after winning the 10-mile event of the Cherry Creek Sneak. “When I managed to get a graduate assistantship up there (at CSU), the stars aligned and I was like, ‘I’m jumping on this.’ ”
Monaghan, 23, won in 55 minutes, 22.5 seconds. Zachary Holloway, a grad student at Adams State who helps coach the track team there, finished second by 11 seconds. Dave Marks of Aurora was third.
“The three of us ran together for about 9½ miles,” Holloway said. “Nobody was doing anything or saying anything. We were just running together. Finally he (Monaghan) took off and I tried to go. He was moving the last 400 meters.”
Monaghan is studying in the health and exercise science department at CSU, with a special interest in improving quality of life for those with multiple sclerosis.
“There’s a big stigma when people get diagnosed with MS,” Monaghan said. “They think they’re not able-bodied, that they can’t do what they would normally do. But the facts have shown that exercise is better than any medicine.”
Lindsey Knast, a cyclist turned triathlete who lives in Lafayette, won a close race in the women’s 5miler. She finished in 30 minutes, 18.4 seconds, with Kara Ford of Broomfield 10 seconds behind.
“The whole race we were sort of neck and neck,” Knast said. “The last mile and a half, I decided to make a move, and it was able to stick.”
Anna Leer of Denver parlayed patience into victory in the women’s 10-miler, letting an early pacesetter run off with the lead.
“There was one who started out in front and her beginning pace was, I knew, faster than I could handle,” said Leer, who won in 1:05:32. “I was just hoping I would be able to catch her at the end. I knew I had a good kick, and I got her after the hills. At that point, I was just running on fear that she would catch up with me.”
Tim Howley, who runs for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, won the men’s 5-miler unchallenged in 26:24.8.
“I am very, very proud of that race,” Howley said. “Originally I was just coming out here to see what I can do. I’m in track season. It just worked out really well.”