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Fast starts lead to St. Pete Beach 10K wins

Judson Cake of Blowing Rock, N.C., and former winner Sonja Friend-Uhl of West Palm Beach led from the starting gun in the St. Pete Beach Classic, the Road Runners Club's 10K Southern Championship.

By DAVE THEALL Times correspondent
Published January 14, 2007

Judson Cake of Blowing Rock, N.C., and former winner Sonja Friend-Uhl of West Palm Beach led from the starting gun in the St. Pete Beach Classic, the Road Runners Club's 10K Southern Championship.

Cake set a fast pace Saturday, 4:49 for the first mile, and cruised home on the flat, fast course in 32:30, 5:15 per mile.

"I tried to run as hard as I could despite the fact nobody was challenging me," the former University of Maine runner said. "I was looking for a race, and (event director) Wendy Johnson invited me down. So I'm grateful for the opportunity.

"There's a lot of snow up in North Carolina now."

Cake said he's training for the London Marathon in April, aiming for an Olympic trials qualifying time.

Lee Stephens of Temple Terrace ran with former classic winner Dror Vaknin for 3 miles before pulling away and taking second in 33:04. Vaknin was third in 33:35 followed by 2006 winner Steve Mandel (34:04) and Luis Rufo (34:32).

Friend-Uhl, who finished in 35:20, runs internationally, having been part of the U.S. five-member 20K team that competed in Budapest, Hungary, in October.

Melanie Peters of St. Petersburg finished second in 37:02 followed by Pasco-Hernando Community College cross country coach Jacki Wachtel (37:47), Carol Glasscock (38:47) and Laura Drake (39:09).

Christa Benton, last year's winner, didn't defend her title after competing in last week's Disney Marathon.

The RRCA region champions in the master's division (40-plus) were Mandel and Elaine Nicholson of St. Petersburg (40:57).

Chris Hough of Tampa won the 5K race in 16:57. St. Petersburg's Ali Crabb (Lakewood High) won the women's title, finishing third overall in 18:40.

[Last modified January 13, 2007, 22:45:10]