Running

Bay to Bay returns after hiatus

Land O'Lakes man and Mary Ann Protz of St. Petersburg win their divisions at the Pier.

By DAVE THEALL
Published March 7, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - What a difference a season makes.

The 25th Bay to Bay race, held Sunday after an eight-year lapse, was run in ideal weather conditions as opposed to the typically torrid days of late May when the 12-kilometer event was held on Memorial Day weekend from 1973-97.

The course was from Boca Ciega Bay on the west coast along First Avenue S to the Pier on Tampa Bay.

The major beneficiaries of the cool temperature and tropical breeze were winners Lee Stephens of Land O'Lakes and St. Petersburg veteran Mary Ann Protz. The age gap between the male and female winners is rarely as large, 24 to 48.

But Stephens' main concern on this sunny morning was 40-year-old Paul Marmaro of Delray Beach, a three-time runnerup. Stephens kept pace with Marmaro for the first 6 miles, running a stride or two behind before making a bold move for the lead.

Stephens' surge swept him to victory in 39 minutes, 59 seconds - 19 seconds ahead of Marmaro in 40:18.

"I was confident I could hold the lead once I grabbed it," said Stephens, a former Florida Southern runner who took third at January's Gasparilla 15K.

"In that last mile I just thought to myself, "Wow, I'm going to win Bay to Bay.' This win is symbolic of what I've been able to do over the past year. That is, win races I used to just win my age group in."

Keith Sawayda of Clearwater (40:58) was third, followed by two-time Bay to Bay champion Dror Vaknin of Tampa (41:32) and Steve Wilcox (42:21).

Protz's win was just as sweet but less dramatic. But that didn't appear so certain at Mile 1 as she was in a tight pack with Forerunners teammate Christy Phillips and Jacki Wachtel of Tarpon Springs. They went though the mile virtually together in six minutes.

"I was just trying to stay with Christy, who has been running strong lately," said Protz, fresh off a 3:02 marathon last month at the Bank of America in Tampa.

"But I was able to keep ahead of them through 6 miles then picked up the pace a little with a final 6:06 mile to pull away."

Her winning time was 45:31, a 6:07 per-mile pace.

Wachtel, 25, a teacher and track coach at Mitchell High School, held on for second in 46:20.

Not surprising for this area, the next three women finishers were in their 40s. They were Phillips in 46:45, Elaine Nicholson (49:15), a winter resident from England, and Lisa Kothe (49:37) of Clearwater. Christina Noordstar of Tierra Verde also broke the 50-minute barrier with a 49:50 effort.

An age-group duel of national stature emerged in the men's 65-69 division as St. Petersburg's Joe Burgasser and Tampa's Don Ardell, ranked first and third, respectively, duked it out for 7.45 miles. At the finish line, it was Ardell in 46:57 to Burgasser's 47:25. Ardell finished 50th and Burgasser 53rd.

The concurrent 5K event was dominated by teenagers. Tom Nagy, a senior at St. Petersburg High who won last fall's county championship, took the men's title in 16:32, just five seconds ahead of David O'Meara, 41, of Sarasota.

Lakewood High sophomore Ali Crabb, 15, finished sixth overall among 355 contestants winning the women's division in 18:56.

[Last modified March 7, 2005, 10:02:02]