FIRST TIME, FAST TIMES
First time entrants win Firecracker-4 4-mile race with new men’s record set
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> They were first in several different ways Thursday morning as first-time Firecracker 4 4-mile runners Eliud Ngetich and Lindsey Scherf captured the men’s and women’s overall titles with another first-timer, Ryan Gronostaj breaking the men’s previous record time of 19:12 held by John Brusque.
Each top finisher was drawn to the 13th annual event for the race, the city and the Fourth of July.
“I live two hours away (Torrington, Ct), I looked on the web-site and I saw this race and there was nothing scheduled for me for the Fourth of July and I wanted to do something and then later in the afternoon go have fun with my friends so we decided to drive up here,” Eliud Ngetich said. “There are great neighborhoods, a big turnout, people love running here and I was like ‘Wow, this is going to be fun,’ and I’m glad I broke the course record.”
Ngetich stayed with his race plan and then took over as the lone runner in the lead.
“I was really calm at the beginning for the first two miles and after the first two miles I realized little by little I was pulling away and I was like
‘I got it,’ real smooth until the last mile,” Ngetich said. “Coming up the hill, it was really hard, but I had a fat lead, so I was good. I just have to try and break under 19 minutes, that’s what I wanted.
“There was a good pack and it helped for me, I wouldn’t have done the course record by myself, having those guys around me made me work a little bit harder.”
The Kenyan captured the Shelter Island 10K on June 15 and finished 10th on June 23 at the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) 10k before entering the Firecracker 4 as prep for the Boilermaker 10 in Utica, where he won in 2015.
The atmosphere surrounding the Firecracker 4 helped Ngetich’s time and is a reason to defend next year.
“I just thought it was going to be like a small race,” he said. “I was amazed this morning I was trying to find parking and they were all full. “This must be a big thing here.’
“When I picked up my bib number, I was surprised how high my bib number was, 3,535, I was like ‘Wow, that’s a big number,’ and there were a lot of people turning out to run on a special day.
“It excites me because along the course always when there is a big turnout there were a lot of people cheering on the road and that makes you feel good. They were cheering us on, which is something so good.”
First-timer Lindsey Scherf got a taste of some Saratoga home-cooking on the course as she trailed several members of the Saratoga Springs High School team running as the Kinetic Running Group Thursday.
“I had no plan other than to feel comfortable, gearing up for the New York City marathon and putting in some miles on my legs I have a better sense of pacing, but all of the sudden all these high school girls are going out superfast,” Lindsey Scherf said. “I find myself in sixth place about a kilometer in and I didn’t want to go through the mile that fast, I was thinking 5:15 to 5:20, but chasing down some of the high schoolers I wasn’t even in front at the mile marker, I was 5:11 so it sucks you in a little bit.
“My race plan wasn’t completely thrown out the window, but I was pushed to a more uncomfortable first mile than I was anticipating due to those talented high school ladies,” she said.
A former Scarsdale High School running standout, the Harvard University and University of Michigan standout knows about pace, setting the 2018 indoor world marathon record at The Armory in 2 hours, 40.553 minutes.
“When I was in high school I was even worse going out, I can’t give any one a lecture on patience and pacing,” Scherf said. “When you do even it out, I found that in any race, every second that you are ahead of schedule in terms of your capable pacing, you’ll be two seconds behind on the flip-side.”
Upon returning to the East Coast, the Firecracker 4 hit a number of interesting points.
“I knew I wasn’t quite ready for the big stuff like Peachtree (10k Road Race in Atlanta), so I wanted to keep it local because sometimes the travel can exhaust you just as much if not more so than the race,” Scherf said. “I wanted to find the most competitive, local opportunity I could find and a little searching on the internet this came up and I thought ‘This is a great opportunity and I’ve always wanted to check out Saratoga,’ it’s overdue, so I added it to the calendar.”
University at Albany graduate Ryan Gronostaj will always have an interesting story to tell about this July 4th. He broke the course record set by his former UAlbany teammate (19:08), but finished second behind Ngetich for the topspot overall.
“There are a lot of good runners that come to the race and this is what drew me to come to the race even though I didn’t win, just to run with a talent like that is unbelievable,” Ryan Gronostaj said. “I just finished my career at UAlbany so it was a chance to get out on the road, run some races with quality competitors, why would you not do it?”
He was familiar with the Firecracker 4 set-up, but wasn’t prepared for Ngetich’s appearance and pace.
“I wanted to go out hard, I wanted to run with the lead group, whatever the lead group was I was going to run with them,” Gronostaj said. “When Eliud took over around a mile I was just trying to stay as close to him as I could, I knew he was a good runner by his cadence, but to run with a guy like him is quite an honor.”
While Ngetich may have another commitment next year on July 4th as a professional runner, Gronostaj is facing a similar possibility, both running and professionally.
“I’m conflicted as a lot of people who finish college, I’m trying to figure out whether I want to keep running or if I’m going to continue in the workforce,” Gronostaj said. “Next year I’m looking to volunteer assistant coach at UAlbany as I finish up my masters and try to figure out my running career from there.”
That could lead to a rematch with Ngetich or another shot at the newly set top mark.
“I’m happy that I was able to come away breaking the old course record, but I think I have a goal for next year,” he said.