Running

Stiff winds, field can't stop Mandel

By DAVE THEALL
Published January 15, 2006

Steve Mandel of Temple Terrace and Christa Benton of St. Petersburg went out hard Saturday morning, battling a stiff wind estimated at 30 mph and establishing an early lead neither relinquished in the third annual St. Pete Beach Classic 10K.

Mandel, 40, covered the first mile in 5 minutes, 45 seconds en route to a winning time of 34:18.

"I never looked back although I knew the field was right there," said Mandel, referring to Clearwater's Keith Sawayda (34:46), John Biffar (34:53) of Fort Myers and Dror Vaknin (35:17) of Tampa. "Just after a turnaround point near the 4.5-mile mark, I could see everyone and felt my lead of 75 yards was enough of a margin to carry me through."

Benton, 21, a USF fifth-year senior, opened with a 6:05 mile. Her time of 37:16, 6 minutes per mile, put the former NCAA All-American 1:12 ahead of Jacki Wachtel (38:28) of Tarpon Springs.

"I really don't think that much about strategy or the competition," she said. "I just try to go out hard and maintain that pace. I just run for the fun of it. It's not like college competition where you're part of a team effort."

Rachel Chambers, 33, of Sarasota captured (38:56) the bronze medal over Christy Phillips (39:04), who was first in the masters (40-plus) division.

Dan French, 43, of Brooksville was the men's masters winner with a time of 37:04.

In the 5K, Lee Stephens of Temple Terrace took the lead around the half-mile mark and won in 16:31. David O'Meara, 42, of Sarasota was second in 17:06. Christine Gentile and Jeanne Lesniak, both of St. Petersburg, finished 1-2 in the women's 5K in 19:29 and 19:36, respectively.

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:48:18]