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Marathon Man
One day after completing the Cincinnati Marathon, Abdelaziz Atmani held off Andy Morgan to win the 37th annual Peace Race
By matthew peaslee
Youngstown
Under sunny skies, with a balmy 56 degree temperature, Youngstown and Mill Creek Park shined in way that can only be summed up in one word — perfect.
Add in 1,590 of the world’s top runners and that’s a blending of Abdelaziz Atmani’s favorite things. The Morocco native who currently lives in Hebron, Ky., won the 37th annual Peace Race on Sunday. With his time of 29 minutes, 15 seconds he earned his second Peace Race title. He also won in 2008.
“I love the course,” Atmani said. “I love running here every year and it was great today. It’s awesome.”
The 30-year old didn’t take the normal die-hard runner routine of rest and carbo-loading the night before a race.
Instead, he ran — more than 26 miles.
Atmani completed a marathon in Cincinnati on Saturday before making the trip to Youngstown.
“I ran a little easier yesterday, because I knew I wanted to come here and do a good job,” he said.
Atmani came in 23 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, former Maplewood standout Andy Morgan, who now lives in Peninsula, Ohio. Andrew Carnes of Canton was third. Carnes won the overall race in 2010 and has formed a friendly rivalry with Atmani.
“He is in freakish shape right now,” Carnes said. “Last year was the first year I met him and I didn’t know about him so I just ran my guts out and finished in first. This year, across the board, he’s been racing frequently and tearing it up.”
Carnes, a Ph.D candidate in exercise physiology, had a slight lead for the first mile and a half, a new portion of the Peace Race. It began at Kirkmere Elementary school and winded around Kirk Road through the city’s West Side before entering Mill Creek Park. This was just Morgan’s second time participating in the race and didn’t seem to notice the slight changes, aside from the start.
“It’s still a great course,” he said. “It was competitive as always because there are Olympic time trial qualifiers and some of the best runners in Ohio. The competition is the best part.”
Carnes felt like it was “identical” to previous years.
Around the 4-mile mark, where the course began to slope down hill a bit, all 6 feet, two inches of Atmani pulled away from the pack and the 5-7 Carnes.
“That’s what we want to see,” Carnes admitted. “We all like to see each other improve and hope each one of us is improving as well with everyone else. When you see a guy whose work pays off, not only are you happy with that runner, it gives you a confidence boost because everybody in the pack is saying I’m next.”
Atmani said that he ran the same pace throughout the race. It was the rest of the pack that made adjustements according to the course.
“The other guys moved around some, but they all did an awesome job, too,” he said.
The first-place women’s finisher hails from Ethiopia. Mulu Seboka ran a 33:13 for the top spot. Molly Pritz (33:20) of Rochester, Mich., was right behind in second and Nicole Camp (35:01) from Willowick was third.
Youngstown native Brandon Pasvanis, 19, completed the 2-mile race in 10 minutes, 28 seconds to win that event. Boardman’s Makala Gasparek, 22, was the top female finisher with her 13:33 mark.
Julia Gorby, 8, placed third among women in the 2-mile and 21st overall in 14:29. Gorby is the daughter of YSU Hall of Famer Keith Gorby and the niece of YSU track and cross country coach Brian Gorby.
The thousands of people who participated and watched the Peace Race have the board members to thank for putting on the successful yearly event, says race director Ted Rupe.
“This was a record turnout,” he said. “It’s a tribute to our sponsors and everybody who works effortlessly on the marketing side of things. Year after year, this is great for Youngstown.”